Parents call for end to religious discrimination in schools

Hundreds people marched to Leinster House on Sunday calling for an end to religious discrimination in State-funded schools.

The march was organised by Education Equality; an organisation established to campaign for equality in the provision of education for all children, regardless of religion.

Paddy Monahan, a parent from Raheny in Dublin said the baptism barrier must be removed.

Minister for Education Richard Bruton is drawing up plans to encourage the Catholic Church to transfer the patronage of hundreds of primary schools to other models, including State-run schools.

At present more than 90 per cent of the State’s 3,200 primary schools are under Catholic patronage. However, efforts to provide greater choice for parents have proven slow and divisive.

“I want my child to the same school as his neighbours and I don’t want to have to baptise him for the honour of doing that just to go to a taxpayer-funded school,” said Mr Monahan.

“The Government has been banging on for some time now about choice. Choice sounds great and I am a big believer in divestment but if we only focus on choice and building more schools; that is not choice, it is segregation,” he said.

“The blindingly obvious effects of keeping the Equal Status Act and building more schools to create this idea of choice, is segregation. We’re going to have a Muslim school here, a Hindu school there. You’re going to have kids growing up not meeting anyone from different backgrounds. It is bonkers and utterly retrograde.”

“Labour’s radical bill was to bump our kids up from third class citizens to second class citizens. As it stands, children who are not baptised are on the waiting list behind children who are baptised children from other areas who are baptised. It is still going to be local Catholic first when it comes to school places,” he said.

Last week, Labour’s education spokeswoman Joan Burton urged Minister for Education Richard Bruton to accept her party’s Private Members’ Education (Admissions to School) Bill 2015 amending the Equal Status Act.

The Labour proposal, she said, would “balance the constitutional right of religious bodies to organise and run schools with the rights of the child to have access to his or her local school”.

Mr Monahan said the Constitution “does not stand for religious segregation in our taxpayer funded schools.”

“Minister for Education Richard Bruton said we have to move swiftly before he moved the debate back for a year. That debate is on a bill that will make our children second class citizens anyway,” he said.

“The Constitution clearly and unambiguously states there should be no discrimination on the basis of religion so I don’t see where he can hide behind,” said Mr Monahan.

Simon Lewis, principal of an Educate Together school, said the issue of the baptism barrier was not confined to Dublin.

“My little boy can go to the local primary school, he can also go to this local educate together,” said Mr Lewis.

“Education should not be about luck – it is about equity, respect and access. Whether this affects you as a parent or guardian or not, we should all come together to ensure equality of access for all children,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said the Minister would treble the rate of delivery of multidenominational schools “by delivering a total of 400 non-denominational and multidenominational schools by 2030”, saying this would provide “greater choice and diversity for parents and children”.

“The Minister will also publish and enact a new Admissions Bill, which will reform the process of school admissions, including banning waiting lists and admissions fees and requiring more information and consultation for parents throughout the process,” said the spokesperson.

The spokesperson added that any change to the Equal Status Act would be “extremely difficult as this is a hugely complex area legally, constitutionally, and in other ways”.