AQE says bishop's statement 'highly defamatory'

Transfer test organisation AQE has called a statement about it made by the Bishop of Derry "highly defamatory".

AQE called for Bishop Donal McKeown to retract and apologise for a statement he made in an interview on BBC NI.

Bishop McKeown told BBC's Sunday Politics Northern Ireland programme that the transfer test process had become "big business".

AQE plans to hold a transfer test on Saturday 27 February if public health conditions allow.

That follows the cancellation of transfer tests originally due to be held in January, which many grammar schools use to select pupils.

In an interview on BBC's Sunday Politics Northern Ireland programme, Bishop McKeown was highly critical of the decision to try to hold an AQE test at the end of February.

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"When business becomes a major element in educational decisions I think, perhaps, we've lost the point," he said.

But in a statement to BBC News NI the directors of AQE said Bishop McKeown's "statement completely lacked accuracy and was pejorative in tone".

"The statement made by the bishop and broadcast by the BBC was highly defamatory not just of AQE Limited but also of those individuals who are the members of AQE Limited and of those who serve it as its directors and officers, carrying, as it does, the clear innuendo that such persons are acting from motives of pure self-interest.

"AQE Limited does not engage in "business", in the normally accepted meaning of that word.

"It does not carry on its activities with a view to making a profit.

"It is a company limited by guarantee and so does not have shareholders and hence pays no dividends.

"The members of its board of directors are not remunerated and perform their roles voluntarily.

"The fees which it charges to parents do not cover the costs which AQE Limited incurs in producing and administering the Common Entrance Assessment; the shortfall is made up by the schools which use the Common Entrance Assessment.

"In light thereof AQE Limited would call upon the bishop to retract the statement which he made on 10 January 2021 and to issue an appropriate apology to AQE Limited."

When contacted by BBC News NI, Bishop McKeown said he did not wish to comment in response to AQE's statement.