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Background

Despite its reputation as being a Catholic country the actual religious demographic of the Republic of Ireland according to the 2022 National Census is as follows:

Roman Catholic	69% (a decrease of 10% since 2016)
No religion	14% (a 187% increase since 2011)
Church of Ireland (Anglican)	2%
Muslim	2%
Orthodox Christian (including Greek, Russian, and Coptic Orthodox)	2%
Christian (unspecified denomination)	3%
Other religious groups	2%

Education System

Pupils in Ireland attend primary school from the age of 4-12 and then proceed to post-primary school until the age of 18. Schools are largely state aided through the payment of teachers’ salaries and the provision of capital and current expenditure. All schools are under the management of a patron. School patronage refers to the legal authority of a body (the patron) to establish, manage, and oversee a school, including the right and responsibility to uphold the characteristic spirit (ethos) of the school. RE can be one (among many) expressions of that characteristic spirit, giving patrons the right and responsibility to influence the approach to RE in their schools. Parents and children also have a right to expect RE in accordance with a particular school ethos (Meehan and Laffan, 2021). While historically the Catholic church was patron to most schools, the system now includes multi-denominational schools and other patrons. For example, there are over 3.000 primary schools with about 90% of these having a Catholic patron. At post-primary level, fewer than 50% of the schools have a Catholic patron. All schools follow the relevant curriculum as prescribed by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA).

Legal Basis

In Ireland, the legal framework for RE in schools is primarily based on Article 44 of the Constitution, and the Equal Status Acts, which guarantee religious freedom and prohibit discrimination on religious grounds.  Specific details regarding RE in schools are also outlined in the Education Act of 1998. Schools are permitted to offer forms of RE in line with their ethos, for example a faith development approach, but must be overt about this. Parents have the right to expect RE but also the right to withdraw their child from RE. This is not without its problems in the day to day running of a school (Williams and Cullen, 2023).

RE Curriculum at primary level

The development and implementation of a RE curriculum in primary schools is the responsibility of the relevant patron bodies.  The state supports denominational RE by allowing for it to be taught by the class teacher as part of the school day and allows for 2.5 hours of RE per week.  This includes sacramental preparation in Catholic schools. However, the programme does not define, resource or assess RE. As about 92% of primary schools in Ireland have a religious patron, RE is generally understood in denominational terms and thus responsive to the underlying aims of a confessional or faith development approach to RE.

The Catholic Preschool and Primary Religious Education Curriculum for Ireland (2015) is the foundation document for RE in Catholic primary schools on the island. The aim of this curriculum is ‘to help children mature in relation to their spiritual, moral and religious lives, through their encounter with, exploration and celebration of the Catholic faith’. Grow in Love, the programme supporting the curriculum emphasises the rights and dignity of learners, promotes inter-religious learning. critical and higher order thinking and is respectful of everyone’s belief system. A similar emphasis is also seen in the Church of Ireland’s Follow Me programme which aims to develop in students a knowledge and understanding of beliefs, worship and witness of the Chistian faith; to develop their own religious beliefs, values and practices through a process of personal search and discovery; to develop an awareness of and a sensitivity towards those of other faiths and none.

Non-religious patrons such as ETBI and Educate Together offer a human rights based approach to their multi-belief and values education curricula such as Learn Together and Goodness Me! Goodness You!

RE at post-primary level

The situation for RE differs at post-primary level.  The introduction of syllabi for Junior Certificate RE (2000) and Leaving Certificate RE (2003) situated religious education within an educational frame, though the influence of faith communities could be seen in the structure of the content (Cullen, 2022).  Schools, regardless of patronage model, are free to offer this form of subject to the same evaluative processes as other subjects in the curriculum i.e. state examinations, publicly available subject inspection reports and be part of the whole school evaluation processes. In 2024, 36.72% of Junior Cycle students took RE as an exam subject whereas only 2% of all Leaving Certificate students (final two years of school) did so. All schools are free to develop alternative RE programmes which are not subject to state evaluation or resourcing.

According to the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, the purpose of RE is‘to provide a particular space for students to encounter and engage with the deepest and most fundamental questions relating to life, meaning and relationships. It encourages students to reflect, question, critique, interpret, imagine and find insight for their lives. The students’ own experience and continuing search for meaning is encouraged and supported’(The Specification for Junior Cycle Religious Education, 2019, p. 6). The specification is intended for all students regardless of worldview or faith background and does not provide religious instruction in any particular religious or faith tradition. Though encouraged to draw on their own experience, students’ personal faith commitment or religious affiliation is not subject to assessment. As the Specification takes a learning outcomes approach to the subject the individual teacher or school has autonomy about the selection of content, though the patrons provide guidelines for how this Specification can be implemented in line with the ethos of the school. RE teachers at post-primary level have to be able to teach the state syllabus as well as the programmes developed by patron bodies.

Students at the upper end of post-primary school (Leaving Certificate) have the opportunity to study the NCCA syllabus for RE which aims to facilitate a student’s ‘reflective engagement with the particular knowledge, understanding, skills, and attitudes which form the foundation of the religious education syllabus’ (p. 4). It is a broad course which seeks to develop the skills needed to engage in meaningful dialogue with those of other or of no religious traditions so as to promote tolerance and mutual understanding.

The syllabus is constructed around 11 key sections: The search for meaning and values; world religions; moral decision making; Christianity: origins and contemporary expressions; religion and gender; religion and science; religion: the Irish experience; the Bible: literature and sacred text; issues of justice and peace; and worship, prayer and ritual. The emphasis in the syllabus is on the experience, expression and value of religious belief and requires an understanding of a variety of religious and secular worldviews but does not concern itself with the truth claims of any of the religions. A non-examination framework is also available for those students who do not wish to take Religious Education as a Leaving Certificate examination subject. A redeveloped Leaving Certificate Religious Education specification will be introduced into schools in 2029.

Current Developments

With the implementation of the Primary Curriculum Framework 2023 the state’s proposed new working title for the area is ‘Religious/Ethical/Multi-Belief Education—Patron’s Programme’ (NCCA, 2020). A possible implication of this change is that the state devolves responsibility for religious and ethical education to the particular patrons rather than determining what type of religious and ethical literacy is required in society.

The subject association for teachers of RE at post-primary level is the Religion Teachers’ Association of Ireland.

This report was written by Sandra Cullen (Associate Professor in Religious Education at Dublin City University), the representative for Ireland in EFTRE
(Report from 05.06.2025).