Hands off church schools

It's a funny old town. The schools in the suburbs and satellite towns are packed to the rafters and the schools in the centre are emptying.
Children have been left without school places and the usual suspect, the Catholic Church, has been getting the lion's share of the blame.

Catholic schools have this policy, you see, of favouring catholic children. All around Ireland catholic churches accommodate kids from all religions and none. But in the new areas where houses were built without any thought for the needs of the people who were to live in them, there aren't enough places in catholic schools so they, the catholic schools, give priority to catholic children.

This has greatly offended the great 'liberal' movement of Ireland who think it is the Catholic Church's job to provide an education for everyone. What these secular warriors want is for the church to be ostracised and control of their schools taken away from them. They point out that the state provides 95 per cent of the funding for these schools.

There is nothing liberal whatsoever about this attitude. What will happen if these so-called liberals get their way, is that the state will have the sole right to provide schooling to children in this state. That's zero freedom and zero choice.

The argument about state funding is particularly obnoxious. Catholic parents pay taxes too. As do Church of Ireland parents and Muslim parents. They are entitled to school their children as they see fit.

The State hasn't covered itself in glory on these matters. Local authorities gave planning permission for all these houses. The law is there that developers can be charged fees to support local infrastructure including, presumably, schools. In addition the State is taking a huge dollop out of every house purchase in stamp duty.

So why hasn't the State used some of this money to provide schools? That's the real question. In some cases you could argue that the kids would be better off at home anyway, rather that stuck in a classroom with up to forty other children while a teacher struggles just to maintain sanity.

There is a issue of choice for parents in areas where there is just one catholic school but the way to resolve this isn't to take choice away from everyone. If our 'liberals' are that concerned, why don't they open their own schools.

...and hands off the gaelscoileanna

If English was banned in this country, children here would still speak it for generations to come. The English language permeates every nook and cranny of Irish life. And very useful it is too, as the world's business and cultural second language.

In some gaelscoils the school authorities have a policy of not teaching English for the first two years. This 'total immersion' policy allows children to better absorb the Irish language. But now Minister Mary Hanafin has banned the practice in a typically high-handed state intervention into local school affairs.

The gaelscoileanna movement, which is fighting the good fight against monoculturalism, has taken this as a kick in the teeth, which it is.
The gaelscoileanna has a breathtaking ambition, which is to make Ireland bi-lingual. They should be allowed to get on with it.