Councillors have unanimously backed a call for parents to be fully consulted before there is any change of patronage in north Dublin schools.
Controversy arose earlier this week after a number of Catholic primary schools in the Portmarnock and Malahide areas sent letters to parents saying Christmas, Easter, and St Patrick's Day celebrations would be no more they're selected to become non-denominational.
Parents from some of the schools were also critical of media reports framing the issue as a purely religious one, saying they were happy with how the schools are currently run.
At the Howth Malahide Area Committee Meeting of Fingal County Council this afternoon, councillors gave their full backing to a motion calling for parents and stakeholders to be fully consulted before there is any change of patronage.
Councillor Brian McDonagh, who brought the motion forward, told Dublin Live that changes of patronage would not work unless parents were fully consulted.
He said: "While there's a recognition that we need to be looking at ways to move education to a position where we're not over-reliant on the Catholic Church.
"If we've learned anything from issues like water charges or other things, you're not going to get any proper movement without bringing all of the people on board with you."
The Portmarnock councillor was also critical of the lack of information given to parents in communications from schools.
He said: "The reality is that most parents, even if they're not that exorcised about whether a school is Catholic or not, if you're going to replace it with something they want to know a bit more about what exactly it's going to be replaced with.
"Particularly in schools that are there already and have been working for years and the parents may have gone to and their children may have gone to. They don't see the need for change."
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Councillor McDonagh added that he felt the timeframe given for the proposal was not long enough.
He said: "The Department [of Education] sent out a circular saying that one school had to change by next year and implying that any of the schools could be forced to go down that route.
"So naturally enough some of the boards reacted. If you're going to do this properly, what you do is give notice and do it over the next three or four years.
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"But it was done off the basis of one small pre-school survey but it didn't take into account that where you send your child to school influences where you choose your house and many other things.
"It's not just about patronage. It's about how close you live to the school, what language is spoken in the school, or you may have gone to the school so you're comfortable how the school is."
The Labour rep also backed calls from party colleague Aodhan O Riordain for a Citizens' Assembly to be convened on the issue.
