Scottish Catholic Observer

The proposal is contained in an Irish Labour Party report focusing on the Church’s role in national schools across the country, which has been drafted by party activists and adopted by a constituency council in Dublin.

The document, which is called Illegal Religious Discrimination in National Schools in Ireland makes a number of anti-Catholic proposals, including that Church control over school admissions policies should be abolished.

The report also contains the following controversial recommendation: “All senior officials in state bodies which are likely to have to deal with the Catholic Church should be screened to ensure that they will not show inappropriate deference to the Catholic Church. Those who feel they are ‘Catholic first and Irish second’ should seek promotion in other organs of the State.”

The Labour Party conference will take place in Galway in mid-April and the report—which was adopted last year by the Dublin North-Central constituency council—will be proposed by the Clontarf branch of the party. The proposal would become official party policy if passed, although it would not necessarily become Government policy. The Irish Labour Party is currently a junior party in a coalition government.

A spokesman from the Irish Catholic Communications Office condemned the proposals said parents should be able to choose to have their children educated in the ethos of a Catholic school, or schools belonging to other faiths.