| RSAUB | Date: Friday, 2012-05-25, 2:01 PM | Message # 1 |
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Colonel general
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| Protestant schools 'weary' following cuts, synod is told
THE PRECARIOUS fate of Church of Ireland primary schools in the Republic, due to spending cuts, exercised many speakers at the Church of Ireland General Synod in Dublin yesterday.
Rev Craig McCauley, rector at Virginia Co Cavan, spoke of “the desperate need for support” for such schools. Cut backs in special needs assistants and learning resource teachers had left people “weary, undermined, demoralised”, he said.
At one Church of Ireland rural school four miles from Virginia, 99 per cent of the children needed transport, as the nearest Church of Ireland primary schools at Kells and Cavan were each 20 miles away. Transport costs would soon be €100 per child.
It was another “stealth tax” and meant the only option for some parents was to send their children to nearer Catholic schools. While not complaining of such schools, the situation “undermines our ethos the morale of the school,” he said. Further, with all schools seeking to increase numbers it was becoming “dog eat dog” locally which was “undermining good relations”.
Bishop of Cashel Michael Burrows held up a letter which he said he was sending to Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn last night. It was to announce the closure of the Church of Ireland primary school at Clonroche, Co Wexford, with effect from the autumn.
He recalled that Mr Quinn had said he was not closing any schools; it was up to the patrons.
The school at Clonroche was “not sustainable” and was “the first example of something that will happen Church of Ireland schools again and again”, he said.
Considering the growing number of one-teacher schools, he asked, “How on earth can the one teacher school work” with current child protection as well as health and safety regulations?
Bishop of Tuam Patrick Rooke said his diocese had six of the 174 Church of Ireland primary schools in the State, and three of these were in danger of closing. He felt Church of Ireland schools were “being targeted unfairly in that a disproportionate number of Protestant schools are being affected” by cuts.
Rev Brian O’Rourke, rector at Shandon in Cork, said that within four years there were likely to be 20 one-teacher Church of Ireland primary schools, which was likely to rise to 40 by 2015 should numbers drop in a further 20.
Dr Anne Lodge, of the Dublin archdiocese, said current education policies could have “potentially devastating consequences for our small schools”.
A motion reaffirming traditional Church of Ireland teaching on marriage, which was withdrawn from the general synod on a point of order last Thursday, is to be reintroduced today. Originally three separate motions, it has been reduced to one motion.
The church’s two archbishops have spoken about the impact of ongoing scandals in the Catholic Church on the Church of Ireland.
At the beginning of yesterday’s session, the Church of Ireland primate, Archbishop Alan Harper, said the majority of the bishops were of the view discussion on the motion should be facilitated and is to take place this morning.
Speaking to the media, Archbishop Harper said abuse scandals “over a significant number of years, don’t just have impact on the Roman Catholic Church, they impact on the whole Christian community in Ireland”.
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| RSAUB | Date: Friday, 2012-05-25, 2:02 PM | Message # 2 |
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Colonel general
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| ONE of the architects of the 1998 Belfast Agreement has raised questions in Parliament about whether the Republic of Ireland is complying with its human rights obligations under the Agreement.
Lord Kilclooney, who as John Taylor was UUP deputy leader, said that he was particularly concerned at the decision to cut funding to Protestant church schools in the Republic.
The education cuts have been strongly resisted by the Church of Ireland and were discussed earlier this month at its General Synod in Dublin.
Lord Kilclooney said that when negotiating the Belfast Agreement he and other UUP members involved were concerned for the rights of southern Protestants and had inserted obligations on the Republic’s government with this in mind.
In a series of House of Lords written questions, Lord Kilclooney asked whether the British Government believed that the Republic’s proposals “to curtail financial support for Protestant schools” were “consistent with its obligations in the Belfast Agreement for the protection of human rights”.
The peer also asked if the Government knew whether Dublin had “ratified the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the protection of national minorities, as required by the Belfast Agreement”.
The peer said he wanted to ensure that the Republic is complying with the requirements in the Belfast Agreement on the protection of human rights in the Republic “and especially the interests of the minority communities in the Republic, of which the Church of Ireland is the largest community”.
He added: “There is much anxiety in Northern Ireland about the decision of the Dublin government to reduce funding of Protestant schools, which could mean now the closure of many schools catering for the Protestant minority.
“I have brought this matter to the attention of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.”
Lord Kilclooney’s comments follow a visit to Belfast last month by the Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore in which he called on the British Government to implement a Bill of Rights in Northern Ireland.
However, the comments backfired after the Government responded by saying that it could only bring in a Bill of Rights if the Assembly agreed, something it said was “unlikely” given the strong reservations of many unionists.
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| RSAUB | Date: Friday, 2012-05-25, 2:04 PM | Message # 3 |
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Colonel general
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| Very soon, it just won't be practical for Protestant schools to remain at all in Eire, since so few will remain, there just isn't the population left to keep the schools open. Apparently in Dublin and Cork most of the churches rely on Protestant immigrants to keep their doors open.
Demographics are destiny!
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| Culzie | Date: Friday, 2012-05-25, 3:31 PM | Message # 4 |
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Generalissimo
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| Yes they are. There is no doubt about that. Does Eire really change? This shows what fate awaits the Protestant people of Ulster should an all-ireland ever come about. There has been a lot of window-dressing by Eire over the last few years but when it comes down to it,it is still Rome rule.
Ulster Protestants consider themselves to be a separate nation. This nation they call Ulster
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| RSAUB | Date: Friday, 2012-05-25, 3:50 PM | Message # 5 |
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Colonel general
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| Aye, even this latest decision by the Irish football team to wear Black arm bands for the Loughinisland attack, say's it all. Just a way of putting extra political pressure through-out the World on the British Government to hold a public inquiry and to make the Irish look like victims. First it was Bloody Sunday, now it's Loughinsland and Ballymurphy.
What about La Mon, Bloody Friday, various Shankill bombs etc... ack forget about them and move on sure!
A leopard never chaange's it's spots, but sure prods are that stupid that they'll believe any old waffle in the pursuit of a quiet life!
A leopard
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