Ulster Unionist Party education spokesperson Danny Kinahan MLA has commented on the debate sparked by a critical submission made by the Catholic schools body to an Assembly Inquiry about integrated education.

 Danny Kinahan said:

 “The Education Committee has launched an inquiry into Shared and Integrated Education and as part of that; the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) has made a written submission.  Their suggestion that the Department of Education should dispense with its statutory duty to encourage and facilitate the development of Integrated education is certainly provocative, and has kick-started a debate.

 “I believe this is a debate that needs to happen, because at the moment the terms ‘shared’ and ‘integrated’ are being used interchangeably in education, and we all need to be clearer about what we are trying to achieve in terms of the future organisation of schools.

 “When read in conjunction with the Department’s decision not to allow Clintyclay near Dungannon, to transform from being a Catholic maintained to becoming an integrated primary school, it is clear to me that no Catholic school will ever become integrated.  This confirms a community imbalance as scores of former state controlled primary schools have become ‘officially’ integrated in the past 25 years.

 “I do not want to see two sectors of the education system at loggerheads, but equally it is important that this issue is debated honestly and openly.  I hope the Committee inquiry into shared and integrated is able to move the debate forward, clarify the issues and perhaps take the first steps to creating a consensus.  The goal for all must surely be to have more and more children from both sides of the sectarian divide educated together.”