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Recent statistics have revealed that school rolls are declining
faster in Roman Catholic schools than in those in Protestant
or State controlled schools in Northern Ireland.
The figures released by the Department of Education show
that the number of empty classroom seats in Northern Ireland
has increased generally in recent years.
The figures also show a growing gap between enrolments in
each community, with the majority of surplus places –
27,000 – now in the Roman Catholic run sector.
The figure for the majority Protestant or State controlled
schools is 25,100.
The figures raise the possibility that more Roman Catholic
schools could be targeted for closure or merger in coming
years.
Indeed, the only factor which has prevented this in a number
of cases has been the influx of immigrant families to Northern
Ireland in recent years.
The majority of immigrants have come from Roman Catholic
countries like Poland, Portugal and Lithuania, and the presence
of children from immigrant families has saved some schools
from closing.
Donal Flanagan, chief executive of the Council for Catholic
Maintained Schools said , “There has been a significant
fall in our sector over time. That’s probably to do with
a decline in the birth rate. There has been a greater slowing
down in the birth rate in the Catholic community, whereas
the Protestant community has remained more constant.”
The revelation about the falling Roman Catholic birthrate
will come as no surprise to those who analyse demographic
trends.
In the past decade and more, the Roman Catholic birthrate
has dropped dramatically in countries in Europe like Italy,
Spain, France, and parts of Holland and Germany where Roman
Catholics predominate.
The birthrate in the Irish Republic also fell significantly,
and it was reckoned by the experts that it was only a matter
of time before Northern Ireland followed the trend.
That has now happened, and it is obvious that a majority
of Roman Catholics are now planning their families, with methods
of birth control no longer a problem, and this has brought
them into line with the Protestant communities throughout
Europe, including Northern Ireland.
The increasing prosperous middle class Roman Catholic population
in Northern Ireland is another important factor in all this,
with that section of the minority community more prepared
to ignore Church teaching on birth control.
It is interesting to note that the birthrate among Protestants,
especially those of the fundamentalist tradition is significantly
higher than the Roman Catholic birthrate.
Gone are the days when dire warnings were often issued by
Unionist politicians on ‘Twelfth’ platforms that
the higher Roman Catholic birthrate was a long-term threat
to Northern Ireland’s continued membership of the United
Kingdom.
In fairness, the Unionist spokesmen were often responding
to a triumphalist attitude among some nationalists who pointed
to the then higher Roman Catholic birthrate, and gloated that
this would mean the end of the Northern Ireland state.
Happily, it is a myth which has been firmly exploded, and
the removal of the birthrate from the political equation is
something which will be welcomed by democrats and fair-minded
people in both the Protestant and Roman Catholic communities.
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