933 Catholic assistants

THERE are twice as many Catholic classroom assistants in the Western Education and Library Board (WELB) as there are Protestants, according to the Education Minister Caitríona Ruane.

By The Newsroom

Published 20th Jan 2011, 12:14 BST

This is the highest ratio across all five education boards in Northern Ireland.

DUP MLA Jonathan Craig asked the Minister for a breakdown of the religious background of teachers and classroom assistants broken down by Education and Library Board area.

Ms Ruane asvised that she could not provide details for teachers as fair employment legislation in 1976 had exempted them from protection against discrimination on the grounds of religious belief.

But she said the Chief Executives of the Education and Library Boards were able to provide the religious background of classroom assistants.

In WELB there were 466 Protestant assistants and 933 Catholic assistants. Forty-none were listed as non-determined.