Catholic bishops have warned that ending church involvement in running some primary schools must result in Catholic children being guaranteed places in other schools that remain under church patronage. The law bans Catholic primary schools from giving preference to baptised Catholics when the number of children seeking admission exceeds the number of places available. Almost 90pc of national schools in Ireland are still under the patronage of local Catholic bishops. In such a situation, remaining Catholic schools should be allowed to give priority to the children of families that seek a fully Catholic education. At present, only 159 primary schools are multi-denominational compared to 2,948 primary schools under Catholic patronage.

Source: Irish Independent July 11, 2021 01:39 UTC