St. Bartholomew to the rescue

Who knew? I sure didn't. During all those years when the media kept insisting on providing us with endless details about his domestic life I never suspected that our own dear Taoiseach was a true defender of the faith.

Yet, that's just what he was yesterday. Stepping up to the plate and delivering just when Irish Catholics needed it most.

On the role of religious in education Mr Ahern said there were 3,200 primary schools in the country of which about 3,000 were owned by the religious communities - the vast majority of these by the Catholic Church.

The State would not be able to manage the schools without the religious, he said, and he believed the State owed a great debt of gratitude to the communities.

Yes, the child sex abuse scandals are damning, but they are not the full story of the Catholic Church's role in Irish life or, particularly, Irish education.

{Note this typo from the Irish Times reporting on the Taoiseach's speech yesterday, "the State-owned religious communities a great debt of gratitude". "State-owned" - just as Liz O'Donnell would love it, I guess.)