‘Bogus’ use of Constitution allows religious bias in schools

The Constitution was being used in a “bogus” way to allow State-funded schools discriminate on the basis of religion, a leading expert on constitutional law has said.

Dr Eoin Daly of NUI Galway was addressing the first conference of a new organisation established to end "religious discrimination" in all State-funded schools.

Education Equality has been established with twin aims, it says – to end religious discrimination in schools admission policies, and to end discrimination against children of minority faiths or none once in State-funded schools.

Grass-roots group

The grass-roots group has over 150 members across the State and thousands of followers on social media, it says.

Dr Daly said arguments citing “constitutional barriers to change and reform” in the area of religion in schools “have been overstated”.

He said the Oireachtas had significant leeway in balancing rights, and resistance to reform was more about politics and the power of vested interests than about constitutional rights.

“To argue that protecting religious freedom requires protecting the right to discriminate against minority religions is a bogus argument,” he said.

Senator Ivana Bacik described the new group as "really important", saying many parents do "give up" and get their children baptised to get them into schools, while in other areas where schools are not oversubscribed they send them to the local church-school despite being non-religious themselves.

“But acquiescence is not support,” said Ms Bacik.

Referring to a survey published last week which found almost 85 per cent of people believed the education system should be reformed to ensure no child was excluded on the basis of their religion, she said there was a growing groundswell for change.

‘Tyranny of majority’

The argument that the religious ethos of a majority must be protected in a way that “tramples” on the religious freedom of minorities amounted to the “tyranny of the majority” and was inimical to human rights, she added.

Nikki Murphy, founder of Education Equality, described how her unbaptised son had been turned away from nine schools in Dublin 6w.

“So Reuben [aged 4] is spending another year in creche. For 2016, I’ve applied to 15 schools - most of them ridiculously too far away. Blow by blow, the rejections came in. Each one hurt. Each one filled me with dread and fear for Reuben.

“Where was he going to go to school? How far will we have to travel to place him in what will most likely be another religious school?

‘Second-class citizens’

“Can we afford to move house? Will one of us need to stop working to manage drop-offs and pick-ups far from home? Should we just leave the country that treats our children like second-class citizens? Should we baptise him?”

She said she and her husband felt isolated, and well-meaning friends asked why they wouldn’t baptise him, or why were they “doing this” to themselves?

Brian Whiteside, director of ceremonies with the Humanist Association, said 30 per cent of weddings were now non-religious. It was "reasonable" to infer these couples, when they had children, would prefer secular or multi-denominational schooling for them.