MORE than one in three – 35 per cent – of Limerick parents want multi-denominational education for their national school children.
But the overwhelming majority – 65 per cent – say they still want a religious ethos in their children’s’ schools.
The figures are contained in the results of the national survey on school type preference, announced by Minister for Education and Youth Hildegarde Naughton.
The survey also showed that 63 per cent of Limerick parents who have children in single-sex schools would prefer to see co-education.
And of those parents who took part in the survey with children attending schools where the main teaching language is English, 87.3 per cent said they want it to remain that way.
The Minister welcomed what she described as the “exceptionally high level of engagement in the national Primary School Survey, with over 200,000 households submitting validated responses, alongside strong participation from school staff and Boards of Management”.
Announcing the results, the Minister revealed that nationally, six in 10 parents in denominational schools said they want to retain that ethos, while 73% with children in single-sex schools favour a move to co-education and 87 per cent want their English-speaking schools to retain that as the dominant teaching language.
Educate Together Limerick  welcomed the announcement of the results of the national survey, but warned that “demand for multi-denominational / equality-based education in County Limerick is not currently being met”.
“There are currently only two  Educate Together primary schools in Limerick, along with a single community national school. This means that of the 133 primary schools in the county, only three have a multi-denominational ethos. Parents in many parts of Limerick city and county have no choice other than to send their children to a denominational primary school.”
Edward Platt, schools development officer for Educate Together, stated: ”These national results are very encouraging for the future of school choice in County Limerick. At Educate Together we regularly engage with families and local communities who are frustrated by the lack of multi-denominational / equality-based school places available to them.”
“Now that the Department of Education has provided statistically valid data to show that 35 per cent of parents in Limerick want their child to have access to a multi-denominational school, we need to see action taken to make this a reality.”
Announcing the results, the Minister said that there is no one-size fits all change and any next steps will depend on the individual schools and communities.