My school day, over eleven years, was filled with drawing, knitting and sewing. Various therapies, such as speech and language, occupational therapy and physical therapy were also part of that day. Travellers were automatically assumed to have a cognitive and cultural disability. The segregated syllabus didn’t include languages, maths, history or the Irish language – all mandatory subjects in mainstream education. By Rosaleen McDonagh.

For someone who has worked in the university sector and has been the President of the National College of Ireland, Paul Mooney’s level of ignorance as to what lecturers and professors do and the purpose of the higher education is quite remarkable.  What is even more striking is that his opinion piece in the Irish Times (Inside Third Level) lacks the rigours of analysis that one would expect from an academic. Assertion, anecdote and the partial, cherry-picking of data does not constitute evidence-informed analysis.

Where is the data and its systematic analysis to underpin the conclusions drawn?  Where are the international comparisons that would set Ireland in the context of other higher education systems? Where is the standardisation against staff/student ratios and funding that should be a part of such comparisons? Where is the wider contextualisation and reference to the myriad of reports on the higher education sector over the past decade?

The Irish Times published an interesting article yesterday, ‘Inside third level'. Interesting in the sense of its approach: it can only have been written by jogging around the shelves of the corporate management potboilers at the airport, noting down random phrases, and adding education-related nouns as an afterthought. In what may be the first instance of a national newspaper publishing a Powerpoint presentation, Paul Mooney, former president of the small business college the National College of Ireland, takes us so far inside the entire ‘third level sector’ that he supersedes the need to mention any actual institutions, to reveal a truth so profound it no longer depends on facts, or stuff.

So I was going to ignore it, in the same way as most workers in Ireland, when confronted with the violent reduction of their labour and experience to the cut n’ paste truthoids of reform-whisperers, simply hope it will go away. But they don’t go away, you know. The article is currently the most read on the Irish Times online, and last night the paper’s education editor Seán Flynn was triumphantly tweeting that the article was ‘much discussed at higher level in Dept of Ed!’ Which – as opposed to such traditional aims as informed analysis and factual claims – was presumably the point all along. So the article requires a response, the only question being, what kind of response?

Read More About Productivity, Baby...

In the school year 2009-2010 the State paid out more than €107 million to fee-paying schools to cover the costs of salaries for teachers, clerical officers and special needs assistants in those schools. In the same year, more than €12 million was given to these schools in capital grants, grants for assistive technologies, and grants for computers and other ICTs. There are 56 fee-paying schools in the State. The State’s 776 free post primary schools* received just short of €46 million in grants for ICTs in 2010; fee-paying schools received €2.5 million. At a rough calculation (and bearing in mind the monies would not have been distributed evenly) this works out at just shy of €60,000 for each free post primary school, and €45,500 per fee-charging school. In total, between January 2007 and May 2011, fee-charging schools have received more than €531 million from the State to pay teachers, admin staff, install or upgrade ICT infrastructure, and build or upgrade school buildings. The 2009 McCarthy report estimated that, between them, these 56 schools raise €119 million annually in fees from parents.

Is the constitutional model appropriate as a framework for the protection of freedom of choice in education, asks Eoin Daly.

It has been reported that a couple are seeking to sue their child’s former national school for breach of their constitutional rights in respect of religious and moral education. Ken Kiernan and Alma Carey-Zunigais complain that their child’s Co. Wicklow school did not properly accommodate the constitutional right of the child to be excluded from religious instruction.  The school allowed the child to be picked up early so as to avoid religious instruction classes, but the Irish Times reports that “the couple’s demands would have excluded the saying of grace before meals, prayers before or after class, nativity plays and carol singing because their child could not be left unsupervised.”  Essentially, their claim appears to be that the Constitution protects parents’ rights to shield children from unwanted religious doctrines and influences beyond the formal confines of timetabled religious instruction classes.

-----Part two of two. Part one here.-----

The Murder Machine

We need not, however, look to American sociologists for dire warnings about the consequences of narrowly instrumental education. Pádraig Pearse's passionate excoriation of the British education system in 20th century Ireland prior to its independence, The Murder Machine⁸, is ripe for a modern re-reading.

Noting that in our native tongue, the word for education, oideachas, has its roots in the notion of fosterage or aiteachas, Pearse proclaims that 'education has not to do with the manufacture of things, but with fostering the growth of things.' For him, the inculcation of human values in education was an urgent necessity. Rather than aiming at 'to inform, to indoctrinate, to conduct through a course of studies' with the goal of implanting 'exotic excellences' geared solely towards the mass production of workers, a civilised Irish education should focus on the fosterage of 'character native to a soul'.

With the gap between church and state in Ireland finally beginning to widen, the Catholic Church's control over education will only weaken as time goes by. But, as Mark Cullinane argues, rather than grasp the opportunity to institute something resembling a liberal education, we have chosen merely to swap one dogma for another - the worship of Capital.

---------- Part one of two ----------

'Education should foster; this education is meant to repress. Education should inspire; this education is meant to tame. Education should harden; this education is meant to enervate.'

 - Pádraig Pearse, The Murder Machine

The Taoiseach's riposte to the Vatican in the aftermath of the publication of the Cloyne Report has provoked a flurry of commentary that Ireland's relationship with the Catholic Church has now irrevocably changed. One dimension of this relationship particularly ripe for change is in the education system, where the present coalition has signalled an intention to recast the role of the Catholic Chuch as bit-players rather than monopolisers of the nation's schools. This has fuelled a growing sense that Ireland is on the cusp of total liberation from the yoke of clerical meddling in the affairs of the nation. Latter-day Saints Enda and Eamon will, so the story goes, liberate us decisively from the serpentine form of the Vatican, whose clericalism, conservatism, hypocrisy and failure to deal with child abusers within its own ranks has let Ireland's people down so badly.

The breathtaking hypocrisy of the government is matched only by the casual brutality of their attacks on education, a press conference heard yesterday. By Alison Spillane.   

Third level students are highly vulnerable to unfair tratment from landlords, particularly during their first year. The USI has called for a deposit protection scheme to be introduced to protect them. By Bernard O'Rourke.

The Union of Students of Ireland (USI) has called on the government to introduce a deposit protection scheme for third level students living in rented accommodation.

A survey carried out by the USI in April revealed that 40% of students lost their deposit while over 60% had €200 or more “unfairly” taken off their deposit.

The call comes as thousands of new third level students seek out accommodation of the first time, having received their CAO offers two weeks ago.

According to Gary Redmond, president of USI, it is these first year students who haven’t lived away from home before who are most likely to be exploited.

Poor success rates in Leaving Cert maths show an almost native incapacity to engage with the subject. Teaching methods aside, the general public’s fear of mathematics is an issue that needs to be overcome if post primary students are not to follow suit, particularly when so much interesting stuff is happening at third level. By John Holden.

Nicolaus Copernicus once described the subject everyone loves to hate in terms most lay people would agree with: “Mathematics is written for mathematicians.” If it was like a foreign language when you were at school, it probably now reads like a communication from E.T (not the movie character).

Its absolutely crucial part to play in society is often lost on us. But from everyday activities we all engage in - like trying out different routes to work to see which is quickest, wondering why buses come in threes, playing sports or just betting on horses – mathematical principles can often be at play.

A successful appeal by a secondary school against a ruling that it had discriminated against a Traveller boy by refusing him admission is one more example of how the Irish education system is neglecting one of the most marginalised communities in the country. By Brian Moran.

A 2006 government report entitled Report and Recommendations for a Traveller Education Strategy says in its mission statement that the Department of Education and Science is “fully committed to ensuring that Travellers receive a high quality, integrated education from early childhood to adult integration.” It set a time frame of five years for its recommendations to be realised.

The majority of primary schools in Ireland are still under the patronage of the catholic church, despite the fact that a significant of the population do not share this belief. Educate together schools provide a humanist alternative to this, where children are not segregated or ostracised because of belief, and where religion is taught in a historical context which highlights the comparison between world religions. By Justin Frewen.

Growing Diversity

For over two centuries, the patronage of primary education schools in Ireland has been almost exclusively the sole preserve of the Christian churches. While this may have been justified in the past as merely representative of the religious beliefs of the Irish population, this argument no longer holds true. Irish society has undergone momentous changes, particularly over the past few decades, which has led to an increasing demand for new models of schooling based on multi-denominational and non-denominational frameworks.

One clear indication of the evolution in religious attitudes became apparent following the tabulation of the 2006 Census results. 186,000 people declared they had “No religion”, thus making adherents to “No Religion” the second largest ‘belief’ group after Roman Catholics. A further 70,000 people failed to respond to this question. In 2008, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin noted that although 90% of primary schools in Dublin fell under his patronage, perhaps as few as 50% of parents were actively interested in their children having a Catholic education.

How many Special Needs Assistants or A&E units could €42 million of unguaranteed bonds pay for? Adam Larragy and Alison Spillane do the sums.

Today, EBS will pay €42,305,476 to senior unsecured bondholders – most probably large financial institutions. These bonds, one €40,000,000 and one €2,305,476, are not covered by any of the guarantee schemes introduced by the Irish government. It is very likely that these bonds were trading at discount, with financial market participants expecting at least a partial write-down in their value. However, the current government seems intent on pursuing the failed 'no bondholder left behind' policy of the last government. As of April this year, the outstanding senior unguaranteed bank debt stood at €16.4bn and the present government remains committed to paying this sum in full. Even a generous 'haircut' – in the strange vocabulary of finance – of 50% on this figure would represent an €8.2bn saving for the state. Despite the efforts of many on left and right - particularly the Dáil technical group, Sinn Féin, the Ballyhea protesters, and Namawinelake – the connection between public spending cuts and the continuing repayment of bank debt remains ignored by most of the media.

The Cloyne report reveals some shocking truths about the way allagations of abuse were handled, as well as the influnce the church still has over primary schools. The following is the full text of a speech made in the Dail yesterday on this issue by Independent TD Stephen Donnelly. 

Ireland in the late 1970s. A young man enters the seminary. The priestly vocation is a challenging one, and accordingly, in 1978, this young man goes for a psychological assessment.

It doesn’t go well. They don’t suggest he’ll make a good priest. He gives indications of “deep sexual repression” and scores very highly on the “psychosis scale”.

Still, no obstacles are put in his path. He is ordained, and joins a parish in north Cork in the mid-1980s. We’ll call him Fr Calder (not his real name).

Almost immediately, people are worried. In 1988 a young man alleges a sexual assault, but doesn’t make a formal complaint. There are reports Fr Calder has been giving alcohol to young adults, and spiking their drinks. There is another report of sexual abuse – but no formal complaint.

There have been some significant steps forward in LGBT rights in Ireland in the last few years, but homophobia is still a problem. This needs to be addressed by significant changes to the education system, writes Alan Moss. 

2011 has so far been an important year in the progression of LGBT rights in Ireland. Since January 1st, civil partnerships have, for the first time in the history of the state, legally recognized same sex couples. Last month, Dublin’s city centre was draped with rainbow flags to celebrate the annual Pride Festival – a colourful week of activities that culminated in the Pride Parade.

On the face of it, Ireland would seem to have fully welcomed the rights of the gay community. After all, isn’t there a gay man running for president? Yet it takes very little effort to scratch away this hollow surface of acceptance. Homophobia in Ireland is rife. To ignore it is dangerous – it promises false and misleading sense of security.

News broke last week that a well-known Irish journalist was approached by two men in a popular city centre restaurant. The man admitted to having attended a gay event at Dandelion on Stephen’s Green in Dublin. The journalist was then attacked by the two men in their twenties and the Gardaí are treating the incident as a homophobic attack.

The cap on the number of Special Needs Assistants and cuts to resource teaching hours in schools have been described as unacceptable by the Dáil's Technical Group and parents. By Bernard O'Rourke.

Government cuts to education are going to have a detrimental effect on special needs pupils at primary school level, say parents and TDs.

While the Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn has said that these cuts will not have any negative consequences, the parents and teachers who are directly affected have said that the harsh measures being implemented by the current government are already being felt.

In reality this means stretching the existing number of special needs assistants across an ever growing number of pupils. The numbers attending primary school in Ireland are expected to rise by as much as 8-10,000 per year for the next five years. This growth, combined with a cap on number of SNAs means that as many as 200 primary schools will have to face some kind of cut in their special needs provision. In most cases - contrary to what the government has claimed - these schools have not yet been informed of this. Most will receive word this week, but that is little relief for parents waiting to find out if their children will be faced with a reduction in essential services come September.

Labour Party President, Michael D Higgins, officially opened the Larkin Hedge School on Friday 6 May and spoke about how the creative society can move us forward beyond recrimination for collapse to an innovative economy.

The future form of the economy to be envisaged as an alternative successor to our present crisis should not be born of the politics of fear. Indeed, if the history of economic crises tells us anything, it is that we should avoid turning a recession into a depression.

The world that it is possible and necessary to now remake is a challenge that should be embraced not just by self-proclaimed progressives, but rather by all citizens, including those who value the best of tradition, of local and practical wisdom, of the power of imagination. This challenge is to regain peaceful, responsible, inclusive lives after the ruins of market extremism and the cultural legacy of an individualism that eschewed any socially based morality of solidarity or of intergenerational justice.

I began week 6 by highlighting to the Taoiseach the difficulty faced by mortgage holders, especially given the new interest rate increases, and more are likely to follow. I enquired if the government might consider mortgage debt relief for those who bought property between 2004 and 2008, rather than just kicking the can down the road with temporary relief. On Wednesday morning (13 April), I challenged Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore about the lack of real concern on the part of Angela Merkel – the person calling the shots – for those countries on the periphery of Europe like Ireland. Now that she is in fear of her own electorate, she is behaving like a good German rather than a good European – a short-term strategy which will be bad for Ireland and Europe in the long-term.

That evening, during the debate on the Education and Training Motion, I addressed the issue of the education cuts which are threatening to have a devastating effect on primary school children all over Ireland:

Since the onset of the economic downturn, the Adult Learning organisation AONTAS has witnessed an unprecedented increase in the demand for learning support and  services. The number of adults contacting us for information increased from 3,845 in 2007 to almost double at 6,548 in 2009. By Niamh Farren of AONTAS.

Cuts in funding and resources hit those schools which cater for children with special needs and children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds hardest, and are being imposed across the public education system. Meanwhile, private fee-paying schools, which rank 'close to the bottom of the table' in their provision for children with learning difficulties, received €100 million in state subsidies last year. Alison Spillane reports.

The onset of recession has sparked a systematic assault on the notion of the public good in Ireland. The vilification of the public sector in the media mirrors the ambition of the government to erode the institutions of state provision. The political prejudices of Fianna Fail are only too apparent in their plans for third level institutions. In this essay, Colin Coulter takes a look at what the authors of the crisis have in mind for higher education in Ireland.

Have you ever wondered why complex political-economic ideologies and policies, such as neo-liberalism, which present gross economic and social and inequalities as inevitable, necessary or even desirable can be so palatable to so many, such that those on the left are so readily cast and perceived as ‘loonies’? The following nuggets of wisdom, which ‘explain’ global inequalities, ‘underdevelopment’ and poverty, are taken from second-level textbooks currently being used in an Irish context. Collectively, they offer some clues as to why the ‘there is no alternative thesis’ remains such an enduringly popular myth. These excerpts are taken from a much larger research study which my colleague, Meliosa Bracken and I have conducted, which looks at the ways in which international development and citizenship related themes and topics are addressed in post-primary schools. With these ideas being presented as authoritative and legitimate forms of knowledge, the ‘loony left’s’ myth-busting work is cut out for it. Lest you think these snippets are unrepresentative of the broader curriculum, we analysed over 60 textbooks across six academic subjects, and found a number of dominant themes and storylines.

Or, more directly, to the economic necessity for an educated workforce. Within this instrumentalist framework, which many mainstream media commentators and some educationalists have openly embraced, there is little, if any, room for actually educating society.

Plans to double the student registration fee are now "off the agenda". Instead, a smaller increase in fees of between €500 and €800 will be introduced, bringing total charges to just under €2,000. Fianna Fáil and Green Party ministers are negotiating the precise charge that will be introduced in the forthcoming budget.

IN HIS speech in Rimini last week Diarmuid Martin said: "School catechesis, despite the goodwill of teachers, does not produce young Catholics prepared to join in the Christian community. Sometimes, after 15 years of catechesis, young people remain theologically illiterate." He might have been referring to me.

A nervous Mary Coughlan drew severe criticism from the opposition in her first committee meeting as Minister for Education yesterday.  By Shane Creevy.

Coughlan confirmed that there are no plans to bring in student fees in the lifetime of the present government. However, one new piece of information was made abundantly clear; there will be no rise in the student registration fee for the forthcoming academic year.

Sometimes referred to as a student services charge, many of the Committee members noted their displeasure with the rise of the cost of the charge last year to €1,500, saying that it was "fees by the back door".

A book launched today by Amnesty Ireland offers teachers and students an opportunity to learn about human rights by taking part in artistic activities.

Voice Our Concern is a project being run by Amnesty Ireland since 2004. It is a human rights education project that targets secondary school children to engage with Irish artists.

The Joint Committee on Education and Science met today in Leinster House to discuss the effects of reductions in the number of teachers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs). Chaired by Green Party TD Paul Gogarty, there were calls for the reversal of recent cuts to SNAs by principals of both special needs schools and mainstream schools.

Primary schools must detach from religious teaching if the education system is to provide for the preferences of many parents. By Joseph Galvin.

Recently the Irish Times carried out a poll asking parents whether they would favour the Catholic Church relinquishing control of the primary school system. A majority of 61% replied yes. Currently, over 90% of Ireland's primary schools are run by the Catholic Church, a balance that must be redressed if it is to reflect the wishes of parents. 

The General Secretary of the Irish Federation of University Teachers, Mike Jennings, has warned of the negative effects of allowing private interests dictate research produced in Irish universities.

Jennings claimed that budget cuts and an emerging need for universities to attract private capital in order to fund research are a "huge curtailment on the horizons of research" and "a massive intrusion into the whole idea of a university".

Despite repeated rhetoric from government championing education and training for the unemployed and the focus on a ‘knowledge economy’, returning to education for mature students has become more difficult, indeed impossible for some. 

Due to cuts in December’s budget, new applicants in the Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) scheme will no longer be entitled to student maintenance grants. 

These grants vary in amount depending on whether the student lives in the adjacent area  (within 24 kilometres) to their choice of third-level institution or outside that area (non-adjacent grants).

A report published today shows how social mobility in Ireland is well below the OECD average and largely dependent on the educational attainment of one's parents.

Today, the OECD published its 'Intergenerational Social Mobility: a family affair?' report, which said: "Well educated parents tend to have well educated children for whom it is easier to obtain well paid jobs. But the odds are stacked against children who do not benefit from this virtuous cycle." 

Two new reports released by the OECD reveal that serious inequalities are rife in Israeli society despite the resilience of its economy during the global recession.

The reports, released today, note that despite the fact that Israel had successfully weathered the global economic crisis there were severe weaknesses in the Israeli economy, particular with regard to its social welfare provisions. The reports also highlight the need for wide ranging reform of education in Israel.

Read More About One In Five Israelis Live In Poverty...

A quarter of Irish people experience problems with literacy, but government schemes to improve literacy are reaching only a fraction of those in need, perpetuating a cycle of diminished opportunity for the many who are already disadvantaged in Irish society. By Siofra Kavanagh.

Topic: Education and the role of the Catholic Church
Panelists: Senator Ronan Mullen, Patsy McGarry and Councillor Ruth Coppinger and Dearbhail McDonald.
Here is a selection of texts and emails received by the programme ---

The school system should be totally secular as The State should be. Nobody is born a catholic (or whatever). Identification occurs as a result of indoctrination. Indoctrination is solely for the benefit of the priestcraft. It is most effective when the family, church and the education system work in tandem. Parents are victims of religion and pass on that mind control to their children. Like psychoactive substances, religion should have no part in the developing mind. Religion imposed on the young is, in and of itself, child abuse - because it interferes with cognitive development. - From Kevin Broaders in Sligo.

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Teachers teach their subjects, full stop. Religion is just another subject and should be treated as such. Of course, every church would like to be given special status like de Valera gave to the catholic church but hopefully those days are over. Liam O'R
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Could EU Nationals who are not employed be supported by the Country of origin who would have to pay from their exchequer. Co-operation would be needed of course but this be a better way to track social payments Any wages earned would see the paye prsi equivalent go to their country of origin. Jim Larkin Galway

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why is ties no system to stop shares being sold so fast - the banks lose millions this way - there should be a system where buyers must hold onto their shares for a certain period before they can be sold

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Buying shares is like gambling on horses except you cant get ur money back on a horse when u think its going to lose. Shares should be the same - if u lose - u lose !

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A school is a school and a church is a church education in school and religion in a church

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the now world order is proposing one world bank and world currency one world government and one world religion when are you going to discuss this which only a certain amount of people know about people that have been praying for peace in Ireland are well aware of it Joan Dunbar

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I have to agree wit what the irish SUN said yesterday about child welfare payments to foreign workers whose children or families dont live here.it has to B stop as this money goes out of our economy forever&not even spent in this country so we lose out. Also theres almost 100,000 foreigners unemployed here so no wonder our unemployement figures are so high.and worse than the 80's. Also people on €100,000 per yr dont rely on child benefit as it rightly stated.

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By that womans logic -Why should education be the place where IRISH is forced on pupils?. Why not after school classes? See? Rubbish logic- Ed

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the church is telling kids the world was made in 7 days and patrick drove snakes out of ireland..anybody with a brain knows its rubbish so why teach it

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is it right or legal to have cameras in toilets in schools

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if parents want their children educated in catholicism they should learn it through going to church not through the schools.

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This country is failing and people want the catholic church out of all aspects of society when this recession really kicks in the very same people will be looking for help off the same church...my parents were lazy catholics and im really thankfull that i was in a catholic school im 19 and a man and looking back now i am glad i got catholic education because i would have been at a loss if it was left up to my parents

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FOR SALE. Special Purpose Vehicle, as new, no reverse gears and not suitable for U-Turns..but it is Green approved..and ECO-nomy friendly. No time wasters. A.Pleb.

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we don't have enough money to run existing schools so why attack the religious who have helped with education for generations. By all means have continuous reform but let's not lose perspective on what is achievable. Jimmy

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i want my children brought up in a catholic school. Its mre important 2 say its worse 2 c kids being able 2 get in2 schools wen sumtimes at d cost of kids it d catchment area.

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The ethos is not just about religious instruction but also about Christian values being taught by example in every day life. Nothing to do with Maths:-) of course these values are not exclusive to the Catholic faith. Mary in Tullamore.

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Ethos is imprinted on ALL subsects and hence such issues such as Intelligent Design - v - Evolution. Remember the Scopes Trials? Miriam Kivlehan Leitrim

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saying parents would want their children educated in a catholic ethos should not be confused with being taught good morals and manners. Each religion would teach its own values and beliefs and "little catholic ireland" should not expect non catholic families to fall in line behind them. What about children from multi religous families or athiest families. If a family want to inform and educate their children in religous education should that not be the job of their respective churches?

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The taxpayer should not fund religious segregation. As an atheist adult I resent that I had to undergo Catholic indoctrination in for 13 years of my life. All state-funded schools should be secular. Only private-schools should be allowed to be denominational. The Ryan Report shows the need to break the power of the Church over our children. There is no proof that God exists. Joe wexford

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its not about teaching maths,etc,etc, it's about teaching the boy and girl, in a rounded way

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may I suggest that catholic priests be allowed have a partner/ wife. This would ellay the fear some parents have about sending their children to catholic schools. Priests are deprived of all sexual activity which leads to their frustration etc.... Colm Dublin

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Ronan Mullen says 'parental choice' is the central issue -what about 'taxpayers choice'? for e.g. I don't want to fund the religious indoctrination of children via my hard earned taxes. A secular education is the way to go for a tax funded system. Michael McGrath, Kilkenny.

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its time for educatìon to be seperated from religion. Education is acedemic, religion is philisophical.

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we are a catholic country Catholic schools are better Parents should be practicing in order to enrol there children like they do in england annette

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School classrooms should be used for education, not indoctrination. The church is simply looking to "get them while they're young" with education secondary to faith. A disgrace in modern society! Gary Byrne, IFSC D1

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its up 2 parents 2 educate their kids in religon take them 2 church or sunday school not our teachers 2 do their job. If they are that concerned about religon then they should folow some other parents and deal with it at home and on their own time.

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that guy needs to realise that change has to come about. His religious beliefs should not be taught in schools. We need to seperate teaching and religion. They have no meaningful relationship in life. Aran

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just because people come to this country why should we then change our traditions?? Lets be tolerant and let them have their faith but they must fit in here in the country of their choice....if we went to india or a muslim country for example, would they change for us? Tell me, and looking at the uk in paricular, what is so great about "multiculturalism", whats wrong with our own culture, apart from our politicians that is!!!

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if a teacher dislikes the catholic religion should they be allowed teach in catholic school.hindus ar not allowed 2 teach in muslin schools.brendan in nenagh.

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Why, when anybody mentions sending migrants home, are they are branded racist. Surely, they are realists. Paul Vickers, Tralee

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If more than 90 per cent of parents want a faith ethos in their sch o ols then what is wrong with their tax being spent on such an education? Marie

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What about the problems the society Has with drugs, drinking, crime, -weren't they all educated by catholic school, So it is obviously Doesn't really matter - it doesn't prevent the bad-doing! Ana Kelly

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What is wrong with ireland. Must we change our whole culture to facilitate everyone else. If we moved to an arab country would they change their culture for us. By the way non catholic families pay large fees to have their kids educated in catholic schools in the united states.. Maura.

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the ethos of a school is much more important than any subjects thought the students are meeting their maths teacher everyday and are influenced by the ethos of their teachers a school without an ethos is failing our children ,community schools are not allowed to profess any ethos this leaves our children with a huge void in their lives leading to a whole range of problems all kids i teach love to be thought about morals etc

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i am church of ireland and went to a church of ran ns and then went to the local tec and which was majority catholic and all the time i was there i alway s felt a religous divide which could be malice at time s . I believe this all came from the devission at ns level . Roll on all school s being 100 % state ran

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ask mullen what kind of society has the catholic ethos produced only gross inequality

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Census 2006 tells us that there is an 86.8% Roman Catholic population in this country. Obviously the vast majority of parents are of this religion and will want their children educated in a Catholic ethos, where admirable morals prevail. Can some of your speakers cut the "Century 21" talk please?

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Sending children to a fianna fail or fine gael school would also offer a unique (and decidedly distasteful) world view! Andrea from bray.

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The situation resulted from decades of state underinvestment in education. Churches took up the slack when the state failed. They don't want to be so involved in education, but historically they were. Most church chairmen would be delighted to hand over to the state. Will the state buy the schools

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all religion should be taken out of schools let various religious groups teach out of school hrs. Current Time spent in schools can be used far better now given serious lack of funding now and to come

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our children go to catholic school and dont know the rosary we do it at home they dont kno the stations of the cross we do it at home we think catholic school religion needs to be looked at again its not doing what it says it is. eilish

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i am a non practising catholic with six children in both primary and secondary school i do wish to have my children going to a catholic schools. Having said that i an delighted to have children of differant denominations within our school who seen to get as much out of our school as we do.

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religion shouldnt be responsibility of the education system.it is a personal choice.my son started school this year and the only homework he gets so far is to do wit the religioun curriculum.keep religion out of schools.

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They can argue til the cows come home but Catholic schools are inconsequential as a recruitment centre. Just count the number of teens that attend mass on any Sunday. Its just the elderly and the under 12's. No in ''beteeners''. NgM, galway

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On this topic re Church and Education, may I recommend a book I am currently reading callee 'THE BIG CHAPEL', by Irish writer Tom Kilroy. It is a novel based on real events in Kilkenny in 1878, when a local Priest rebelled against Church interference in his National School. Its BRILLIANT! Geraldine Nolan, Tralee, Kerry

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What needs to be looked at is the enrolment policies of schools under various patronage. Where there is pressure for places in certain areas, denominational schools will give priority to children of a particular religion; educate together schools are first come first served. Therefore, those who are new to an area may be excluded because they are not of a certain religion or because they didn't get their childs name down on time. There parents/children have no choice and this can lead to a situation where the majority of children are newcomers. Some schools now have little or no irish born children to irish parents. Tom

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There is no such thing as "catholic children" or "muslim children" - only children of catholic or muslim parents. The children are mere pawns in a global game of numbers. Gary Byrne, IFSC D1

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Religion has been the cause of so many wars, and like tonight....so many arguments. Frank.

A league table of 400 secondary schools was published recently which lists schools based on the percentage of sixth formers attend university. The study reveals a clear bias in favour of private fee-paying schools. Of the 54 fee-paying schools listed in the table, 34 are in the 70 highest listed schools. Nine of the 10 highest listed boys schools and five of the 10 highest listed girls schools are fee-paying.

The campaign to keep the Local Gaelscoil Na Camoige in the village of Clondalkin was stepped up last Saturday when many local people involved in the school and parents, grandparents took a day out to ask local people to support their efforts in keeping the school within the village area. Parents targeted the three main shopping areas in the village and over 3600-odd people signed the petition, this was a fantastic response and even surprised the organisers. The campaigners will now be calling on people homes within the nest week and asking them for their support.

Paul Doran, Clondalkin, Dublin 22 

A survey of 14 institutes of technology has found that just two institutes employ a disability officer and that in nine institutes the faculty buildings are not accessible to disabled students. By Emma Browne

A 'lay woman' with no family lineage in law or medicine, the odds are stacked against Deirdre Madden in her bid for chair of the contentious Medical Council ethics committee. Justine McCarthy profiles the UCC law lecturer.

The president of UCD is ruffling a lot of feathers in the college by introducing radical reforms designed to bring it into the twenty-first century. But is he up to the job? John Byrne reports.

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN has just had the most troubled year of its existence. Occupations, demonstrations, illegal meetings, an openly dissident student body with tacit support from sections of the staff have shaken an administration that hitherto was singular for its strength if not for its efficiency.

FREUD-THE MAN
A 200 FOOT STEEPLE was perhaps the only distinguishing characteristic of the little town of Freiberg, situated some 150 miles north-east of Vienna in what is now Czechoslovakia. It was here on the 6th of May in 1856 that Sigmund Freud was born, the first child of the second wife of an unsuccessful wool merchant who, it is said, resembled Garibaldi.
 

"WE RECOMMEND that the common scale and the new system of allowances should come into force on the 1st September, 1968 and should apply to all teachers who enter the profession on or after that date".