Aboloish
Patronage
Reports
Recommendations
1️⃣ Separate patronage from faith-informed education
Reform should distinguish institutional control from the opportunity to provide religious education. Ending patronage would not necessarily require ending voluntary faith formation.
2️⃣ Give the State clearer responsibility
The Department should be directly accountable for governance standards in publicly funded schools rather than relying primarily on assurances from individual boards or patrons.
3️⃣ Strengthen recruitment and oversight
Appointments, conflicts of interest and the use of public money need transparent procedures, independent scrutiny and an effective route for raising concerns.
4️⃣ Preserve worthwhile local participation
Any replacement model should retain meaningful involvement for parents, staff and local communities without leaving them responsible for complex governance duties without adequate expertise or oversight.
5️⃣ Define educational choice more clearly
Public policy should identify which choices it intends to protect, including language, location, ethos, school size and teaching approach, and ensure those choices are distributed fairly.
6️⃣ Test alternatives against evidence
Models involving the State, local authorities, ETBs or other structures should be compared using clear measures of accountability, expertise, cost and responsiveness.
Missing Links
1️⃣ Experience from alternative systems
We need evidence from schools governed by ETBs, local authorities or comparable international structures, including what works and what becomes more difficult.
2️⃣ Voices within the present system
Patrons, board members, Department officials and governance professionals have not yet explained what functions the existing model performs well or what would be lost.
3️⃣ Evidence behind governance failures
The discussion includes serious first-hand claims about recruitment and oversight, but the supporting documentation and the frequency of similar cases have not been examined.
4️⃣ Children’s daily experiences
The inquiry still lacks direct evidence from pupils about religious participation, opting out, inclusion and whether school ethos affects their sense of belonging.
5️⃣ Rural and minority contexts
We need to understand the consequences for rural schools, Irish-medium education and minority-faith communities before assuming that one replacement model would work everywhere.
6️⃣ Definitions of choice
Contributors invoke choice in different ways, but we do not yet know which choices families value most or which should be guaranteed by a public system.
5 Big Questions
1️⃣ Who should be ultimately accountable?
If patrons no longer controlled schools, which body should carry final responsibility for governance, employment, buildings, finance and compliance?
2️⃣ What would better governance look like?
Which measurable outcomes would demonstrate improved accountability, expertise, transparency and responsiveness rather than merely a change of structure?
3️⃣ Which choices should the system preserve?
Should language, faith formation, location, school size, ethos and teaching approach receive equal protection, or do some represent stronger public interests than others?
4️⃣ How should local participation work?
Can parents and communities retain a meaningful role without being expected to manage complex employment, legal and financial responsibilities?
5️⃣ What might reform unintentionally remove?
Which valuable functions, relationships or protections currently provided through patronage could be weakened, and how should a replacement system preserve them?