Stormont Education Minister Paul Givan was legally entitled to reject attempts by two Co Down schools to become integrated, the High Court ruled today.
A judge dismissed claims Mr Givan breached a legislative obligation and “cherry-picked” plans to make a case against the proposed transformation of Bangor Academy and Rathmore Primary.
Mr Justice McAlinden held that the Minister had clearly indicated a problem around obtaining reasonable numbers of both Protestant and Catholic children.
“There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that such a demand (for integrated education) exists within the local Catholic community,” he said.
RM Block
The verdict came in a legal challenge mounted on behalf of pupils at the two schools.
Bangor Academy, with nearly 1,900 pupils and Northern Ireland’s largest school, held a ballot on the proposal to move to integrated status which reportedly drew almost 80 per cent support from parents and guardians.
Rathmore Primary School’s plan to make the switch received a similar level of backing.
According to documents published by the Department of Education, officials recommended both Bangor-based schools should be allowed to become integrated.
Earlier this year, however, Mr Givan decided not to approve the plans.
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The DUP Minister said there was insufficient evidence that enough Catholic pupils would attend the schools for the provision of integrated education.
Citing legislation about having reasonable numbers of Protestant and Catholic children in integrated schools, those targets were assessed as highly unlikely to be met.
Catholic enrolment levels at both Bangor Academy and Rathmore Primary in recent years was said to be around 3 per cent.
Applications for leave to seek a judicial review contended Mr Givan made an error of law and acted irrationally.
Lawyers representing the two pupils claimed he breached Article 64 of the Education Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 1989, which imposes a duty to encourage and facilitate the development of integrated education.
They told the court the Minister ignored the reality that much of the work to meet the “reasonable numbers” requirement can only be done once a school is approved for the change in status.
Counsel for the Department of Education responded that the proposals had been assessed as being “under-cooked”. He argued there was not enough scrutiny on the key issue of increasing Catholic students from 3 per cent to something close to reasonable numbers.
Ruling on the two applications for judicial review, Mr Justice McAlinden rejected all grounds of challenge.
He described the case as a bid by some advocates of integrated education to reverse the Minister’s realistic stance by arguing a more lax attitude to the “reasonable numbers” requirement should be adopted.
“Such an attempt is doomed to failure for all sorts of reasons,” the judge stated.
“The courts are not here as tools to be used by one party or another in disputes or arguments on socio-economic, cultural, educational, healthcare or other policies.
“All too often now, matters are brought before the courts in the guise of a legal challenge when in fact they are blatant policy challenges.
“Such litigation strategies are to be deprecated.”
