On 10 March last the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination did not issue a judgment imposing an obligation on the Irish State to promote the establishment of multidenominational schools. Rather the committee encouraged Ireland to promote the establishment of non-denominational or multidenominational schools.
The committee recommended that this matter be addressed along with all other observations made when Ireland submits its third and fourth periodic reports by January 2008. My Department will furnish its response on this specific observation as part of that wider reporting by Ireland requested by the committee.
As regards annual funding for Educate Together, the group which promotes the development of multidenominational schools, the position is that my Department is currently engaged in discussions with this group in relation to this matter. The provision of some additional funding in 2005, to meet the immediate issues of concern to Educate Together, is under discussion along with their longer term needs. The current level of funding that my Department provides to Educate Together as a school management body is on a par with that provided to Foras Patrúnachta na Gaelscoileanna, the Church of Ireland Board of Education, the Islamic Board of Education and the National Association of Boards of Management in Special Education.
As regards support for the establishment of new multidenominational schools, it should be noted that the Department has supported the establishment of many new Educate Together schools in recent years. Of the 24 new schools granted provisional recognition in the past three years, 12 of them are under Educate Together patronage. The Department has made a number of changes in recent years which have made the provision of accommodation for new schools much easier. One of these changes, which was strongly welcomed by Educate Together, was the abolition of the local contribution to the building costs for state-owned school buildings, which had cost up to €63,500 per school. Other innovations include the development of the design and build model to provide permanent accommodation much faster- such as in the case of the new Educate Together school in Griffeen Valley, Lucan which was designed and built in under 13 months.