DROPPING a contentious provision from the Equal Status Bill, would send the entirely wrong signal to people in the North of Ireland, that in this State we aimed to assimilate minorities and we did not want them to preserve their identity, the Minister for Equality and Law Reform, Mr Taylor, contended.
He rejected strong entreaties from Mr Joe O'Toole (Ind) that he exclude from the Bill the right of schools to refuse entry to children on the grounds of their religion.
To reinforce his warning, Mr O'Toole pointed out that it had cost his union around £3 million to find out what happened when a child was refused entry to a school.
The purported right to refuse entry on denominational grounds flew in the face of the right of parents to make their own choice of ethos for the education of their children. This approach was, he believed, unconstitutional.
Mr O'Toole said he would press the matter anew at the next stage of the debate.
Supporting him, Mr David Norris (Ind) said he had some sympathy with the Minister and he could imagine the kind of pressure to which he had been subjected. But that pressure had been completely misplaced and reflected an insecurity on the part of the religious authorities, particularly his own church, the Church of Ireland, and the other major churches. If they really believed the ethos which they proclaimed, they would have sufficient trust in it to believe it would survive mixed schooling. "I find the proprietorial, territorial approach taken by the churches to be quite offensive and in clear contradiction of the message of Christianity."
Rejecting the calls for the amending of the Bill, Mr Taylor said the provision had been included to protect minority religion in schools. Such schools ran the risk of being swamped by majority religion children unless they had this admission veto. He had been advised that this right was necessary to ensure conformity with the Constitution.
The provision would not give any additional right to schools. Indeed, it had a potentially restricting effect, as schools might have to justify refusal decisions to the Director of Equality Investigations.