In Ireland, the state provides ‘for’ education through patron bodies, who play a dominant role in the governance of both primary and post-primary schools. A school’s patron determines its religious or philosophical character (ethos), which permeates the whole school day. Patron bodies determine admissions policies and the overall school environment. Historically, this system has been dominated by religious bodies, mostly by the Catholic Church.
The Workplace Relations Committee (WRC) has found that non-designated ETB Community Colleges can have a Christian ethos if that is part of their tradition. Disappointingly, the 190 ETBs, originally intended as the state-run alternative to denominational education, can promote a religious ethos, and many have joint patronage with a denominational patron.
In addition, the Department of Education claim that multi-denominational education through the ETBs and Educate Together provide parental choice and an alternative to denominational schools. This does not provide choice for two reasons:
Finally, if parents do not wish their children to attend religious instruction, which is a constitutional right, schools typically do not supervise children outside the class or provide another subject. Instead, they leave the child in the classroom during the subject. The same thing happens with religious practice.
Despite the need for secular schools that respect everybody equally, progress towards even more multi-denominational schools remains slow with much resistance. Resulting from the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in 2011, divestment of religious-run schools to multi-denominational patrons was recommended. The 2020 programme for Government committed to increase the number of multi-denominational primary schools in Ireland by 400 by 2030.
However, only a handful of schools have divested to patrons such as ETB or Educate Together to date. And even if this target was met, which it won’t be, the vast majority of schools would still be denominational.
The current programme for Government launched in January 2025 ‘Securing Ireland’s Future’ has failed to reiterate the previous target and simply aims to “increase parental choice to give families access to both non-denominational and faith-based education”.However, the government has no plans for any non-denominational schools, only for multi-denominational schools, so that commitment is meaningless.
A national survey of parental choice promised by the former Minister for Education, Norma Foley, did not materialise during the previous Government term, and has not been mentioned since. In April 2025, the current Minister for Education, Helen McEntee stated she plans to establish a ‘National Convention’ on education in the 2025/26 school year. Despite growing public demand for more pluralistic education, the divestment process, in our opinion, has been flawed for a number of reasons :-
All Patron bodies and schools claim they respect parents’ convictions, are inclusive and promote diversity as per Article 42.1 – S.15.2(e) Education Act 1998. However, they do this within their own Characteristic Spirit (ethos) (Section 15-2(b) of the Education Act 1998) as there are no statutory guidelines in place. Respecting parents’ convictions means whatever a particular Patron body says it means. No Patron body claims its ethos is objective and in accordance with the General Principles of the European Court under Article 2 of protocol 1 and the United Nations.
Patron bodies also claim their particular patrons programme is suitable for children from all backgrounds. The Department claims the state curriculum in Religious Education at second level is suitable for children from all backgrounds, and that the ‘Goodness Me Goodness You’ course in ETB Community National Schools is also suitable.
The Department of Education provides no statutory guidelines that define what “respecting parents’ convictions” means in practical terms on the ground in schools, that would reflect case law at the European Court; nor are there any statutory guidelines on the right to not attend religious instruction in schools.
The Catholic Church has guidelines in place on the treatment of minorities in schools which the Department of Education support. We are expected to accept guidelines put in place by a third party who decides for themselves what respecting parents’ convictions means on the ground.
In essence the Department just accepts the ideological position of each Patron body in relation to respecting parents’ convictions in schools and the right to not attend religious instruction. Our Constitutional and Human Rights are given no practical application on the ground.
With 88% of our national schools under Catholic denomination, this results in a monopoly of schools where the Catholic ethos is deeply embedded, where daily religious instruction classes, as well as faith formation, rituals and preparation for religious sacraments are the norm for children.
This extends to Christmas (Christian) plays, graduations and other religious ceremonies, many of which typically involve praying and, from the age of 4 or 5, learning about life through the lens of Catholic beliefs and a god, taught as truth.
Children of various faith backgrounds are also encouraged to participate in their school choir, requiring the singing of religious hymns which the Vatican itself has stated constitutes the practice of catholic religion.
When all of these elements are integrated into key mainstream school activities, children who are not of the patron’s faith often feel excluded or pressured to participate in religious practices that are not aligned with their families’ beliefs. This creates an environment which unintentionally undermines, or discriminates against the child, their constitutional right to freedom of conscience and equal treatment in a publicly funded educational setting. This is not an objective, critical, and pluralistic education, which is the human rights standard that should be met.
There are no statutory guidelines in relation to the right to not attend religious instruction classes. Most children are not supervised outside the religion class or offered another subject.
As well as missing 30 minutes per day of their education at primary level, this also serves to highlight their differences, and, for a young child, can lead to feelings of exclusion, as well as absorbing religious teachings that may be against the conscience of their parents.
At second level, religion is an exam subject in many schools. Children who exercise their right to not attend get left within the classroom and get less points in their Junior or Leaving Certificate Exams.
Children should not be segregated, othered or excluded based on the beliefs of their family. It is better for everyone when children are able to attend their local school within their own community. But because the majority of schools are run by religious patrons, this leaves families with no religious affiliation in a position where they feel pressure to compromise their values and their rights, or risk exclusion.
It is also important to acknowledge that the influence of religion has a long and complex history in Ireland. Many families have experienced harm, trauma, or exclusion as a result and have made an intentional decision not to raise their children within those traditions. For these families, having their children evangelised or indoctrinated can be deeply distressing and, in some cases, re-traumatising.
The European Court has said that schools have a duty to take the utmost care to see to it that parents religious and philosophical convictions are not disregarded by carelessness, lack of judgment, or misplaced proselytism.
So where do we see the future? The Government say they’d like to create more choice in the education system, but to what end? Ireland is a small country. It is not feasible to provide a choice of different religiously run, and philosophical belief-run, publicly funded schools in every town up and down the country. This is also likely to result in further segregation, intolerance and discrimination.
Instead, we believe that many parents would like a future where the school environment is inclusive, respectful of all beliefs, and mindful of the diverse needs of its entire community. Only secular schools, guaranteeing a pluralistic education based on human rights law, can provide this.