Measures to combat religious exclusion under review

Minister for Education Richard Bruton has signalled that he is open to considering measures aimed at combatting the exclusion of children on religious grounds from denominational schools.

The measures may be included in the new school admissions Bill, to be published later this year, which aims to make the process of enrolling children in schools easier for parents.

The initial proposals will not oblige denominational schools to admit non-religious pupils in cases where they are oversubscribed.

However, a spokesman for the Minister told The Irish Times Mr Bruton "is keen to discuss this very complex issue with the Oireachtas committee at the earliest opportunity" and that no measures had been ruled out.

The issue of access to denominational schools has become a hotly debated one in recent times given that 96 per cent of State-funded primary schools remain under Catholic Church patronage.

Campaigners say non-baptised or minority faith children have difficulty accessing denominational schools in cases where they are oversubscribed.

About one-in-five schools do not have enough places to meet demand.

Ethos

Mr Bruton’s comments come as the

Labour

Party prepares to move its own school admissions Bill next week. The party says it would ensure children have access to their local school regardless of their religion.

At present, denominational schools are allowed to discriminate between children in their admissions policies in cases where they are oversubscribed.

This is because the Equal Status Act 2000 permits schools to give preference to children on religious grounds, if the school can prove that the refusal is essential to maintaining the school’s ethos.

However, Labour's education spokeswoman Joan Burton argues that this provision – on maintaining a school's ethos – has never been tested and no proof at present is required.

To address this, the party says its proposed legislation would amend the Equal Status Act and redress the “imbalance between the right to maintain denominational schools and the rights of children to receive a secular education in a State-funded school”.

Catchment

The Bill proposes that State-funded denominational schools may only discriminate on religious grounds if they can prove it is essential to ensure reasonable access to education for children of a certain religion within its catchment area.

“Once that need is met, the school cannot continue to prefer its own co-religionists to fill up the remaining places,” said Ms Burton.

The Bill also proposes that denominational schools must have “due regard to the constitutional right of any child to attend a State-funded school without attending religious instruction”.

A failure to do so, she said, would mean that the school should not qualify for public money.

Constitutional obstacles have been cited as a key reason why there has been little progress in tackling this issue.

Three constitutional law experts, however, have said they see no “constitutional impediment” to changing the law to ensure that children have equal access to State-funded schools regardless of their religion.

Legal opinion commissioned by Equate, a charity campaigning for equal access to schools, states that there is no constitutional right to unconditional public funding for denominational schools.