Many parents are still being forced to send their children to Catholic schools - even if they want nothing to do with the faith, Atheist Ireland has claimed. 

According to a Department of Education report in 2022, 88.5% of schools in Ireland still have a Catholic ethos. 

Despite this, the number of people who declared themselves to be Catholic in the census that year fell to 69% - down from 78% in 2016. 

As Catholic Schools Week gets underway, Atheist Ireland has called for radical reform to the education system. 

“Most people do not choose to send their children to Catholic schools in Ireland,”  Chair Michael Nugent told Newstalk Breakfast. 

“They are obliged to send their children to [a Catholic] school because homeschooling isn’t a realistic option. 

“In many cases, the only school in their local area is a Catholic school, so they’ve no choice but to send their child to that school.” 

A priest saying mass at a church. Image: robertharding / Alamy

In some countries - such as France or the United States - most schools are secular by default and parents have to make a conscious choice to send their children to a school with a religious ethos. 

It is a system that Atheist Ireland would like the Department of Education to adopt. 

“Here the Catholic schools are effectively 90% of the system and the difficulty is that the mission of Catholic schools is to evangelise children into a Catholic understanding of the world,” Mr Nugent said. 

“Atheist children… get caught up in that evangelising mission while they exercise their right to education.” 

A priest celebrates a Catholic mass. Image: robertharding / Alamy Stock Photo

Also on the programme, Catholic Education Partnership CEO Alan Hynes said in countries where Catholic schools are a minority, they are held in “very high regard” by communities. 

“They’re schools that parents regularly oversubscribe to simply because parents wish to have their children in there,” he said. 

“That’s not just Catholic families - that’s people from other faith backgrounds. 

“I know from my counterparts in the UK, Muslim families find Catholic schools to be very, very good.” 

A group of school children in school uniforms. Image: NorthScape / Alamy Stock Photo

Mr Hynes added that parents have a right to send their children to a school that reflects the family’s belief system and he would have no problem with atheists setting up a school. 

“Certainly, if they wanted to get together and form a school, we would support the State in supporting that school,” he said. 

In Census 2022, 736,210 people, or 14% of the population, said they had no religion. 

Main image: Children play in playground of a Roman Catholic National School by a crucifix as Vatican reports on Irish child abuse scandals. Picture by: Richard Wayman/Alamy.