For well over a decade, attempts to reform school patronage in Ireland have followed a disheartening pattern. The preliminary results of the national primary school survey, published yesterday by the Department of Education, represent the latest attempt to generate some forward momentum. Ireland’s primary school system is the product of an era in which the State delegated ownership and management of publicly funded schools to private patrons, predominantly the Catholic Church. A smaller number of genuinely committed Catholic schools, they feel, would better serve those for whom religious education genuinely matters. A target of 400 multidenominational primary schools by 2030 was finally abandoned in the most recent programme for government, replaced with a vaguer aspiration to expand parental choice.

Source: The Irish Times April 08, 2026 03:02 UTC