Fight for the Irish Republic in your local Primary School

I rarely have anything good to say about the Bishop Michael Smith, the Catholic bishop of Meath. Having said that, I've only met him once, when he shook my hand at a function and congratulated me for my work in the community. He seemed like a civil oul' divil on that particular occasion. But here's the thing. When I was signing Mac an Seanchai up for primary school, I was asked to fill out a form, which included a line asking my religion. Because the school is funded by both the state and through fundraising by the parents, I saw no reason to tick the box. In fact, on a point of republican principal, I refused to tick the box. Now I don't mean republican in a "Brits out" kind of way. I mean republican in a "liberty, egality and fraternity" kind of a way. In a secular republic kind of a way. I received an unpleasant call from a (non-Catholic) school administrator a few months later, who told me that I had to tick the box, otherwise my child might not be accepted to the school. He might be assigned to the new school, or to the satellite school, which is a few miles away. I said that religion shouldn't a selection criteria for a publicly funded school. The militant school administrator (militant about data compliance rather than religious observance, I suspect) said that the school belonged to the Diocese of Meath; it was only funded by the state. I was just wondering where they get the word "only." The administrator said that Bishop Smith didn't approve of non-religious people taking advantage of church schools. I heard since heard from other sources that this is, in fact, a fair characterisation of his attitude to the whole issue. However, it's not that he resents Protestants, Jews and Muslims going to "his" schools; he seems to feel that they can't help being who they are and shouldn't be obliged to drive 10, 20 or 100 miles to find a suitable school for their children. The real object of his campaign are post-Catholics, who don't participate fully in the activities of the Catholic church and the school. I called the Irish Council of Civil Liberties and they hummed sympathetically and said that there wasn't much they could do. They agreed that the church's and the state's position would make an interesting case for the Supreme Court, but that they don't currently have any plans to take such a suit. At that point I pulled my child's name from the list and signed up for the brand new school in the village. It was also a Catholic school, but has a more enlightened administration. They admitted that it was scandalous that the church could grab control of these schools simply by donating the land upon which the school is to be built. The capital cost of construction and the operating costs of the school are paid by the state, supported by the taxes of Papist, Protestant, Freemason, Dissenter, Mohammedan and Jew. This shows purely laziness and complacency on the part of the state. It should bite the bullet and buy sites for schools, rather than relying on the worst instincts of the Catholic church. However, in a statement last year, Bertie Ahern, Irish Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fail -- the self-styled republican party -- said that he supported church involvement in schools. (After all, it's the easy way out and Fianna Fail is always in favour of the easy way out.) The situation demonstrates the civic apathy of the people in the village. According to the principal of the new primary school, one parent in the school has objected to church involvement in state schools. (I'm assuming that was me.) People ask me why I don't drive five miles down the road to the Educate Together school. Because I want my kids to go to school with their neighbours. Because there's a publicly-funded school a couple of hundred yards down the road and I have a right to send my children to it. Because nobody tells you that you should build your own hospital if you don't like the ethos of the local hospital. Medical staff have to comply with the law of the land, not with the ethos of their hospital. So why am I now so supportive of Bishop Michael Smith? Because he is trying to scale back the Department of Education's plans to build a 60-room school on the site. He has, through some calculation method of his own, decided that 40 classrooms would be sufficient to support the Catholic population of the village. If the Department of Education wants another school for non-Catholics, they should buy a site, appoint a board of management and build a proper republican school. So do it. Buy the land. Build the school. Appoint a board of management. Render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar. Link: Report on Irish Education from Educate Together Link: A right of reply for the Christian Brothers Link: Paedophilia no impediment to promotion among Braithre Criostaí Link: Amanda Marcotte from "Nuts and Mutton" Technorati Tags: The Pale, ireland, Books and Films, Law and Order,