Ms Jane Donnelly:

Okay. In the case of one school, the first criterion relates to Catholic children residing within the geographical boundaries. The school offers places to Catholic children resident within the Catholic parish of Sacred Heart. I will not read out the full name of the parish. In another case, the school offers places in turn to Church of Ireland children of the parishes, Church of Ireland siblings, Protestant siblings, Church of Ireland children from outside the parish, Church of Ireland children of inter-church marriages, other Protestant children of member churches of the Irish Council of Churches, including Presbyterians and Methodists, other siblings, children of inter-church marriages - Church of Ireland and other - where the child is not Church of Ireland, children of permanent staff members, Roman Catholic children, Orthodox children and other children. My children fall into the very last category. This is what the regulatory impact analysis of the Department of Education and Skills refers to as "lawful over-subscription criteria". It is religious discrimination. It is terrible to say something like that to a parent whose child has been refused access to his or her local school because a baptism certificate was not produced, or because he or she does not belong to a certain religion.

As I have said, the right to education belongs to the child. Under Article 2 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, parents have the human right to have their religious or philosophical convictions respected. Secular parents have exactly the same right as religious parents. If one makes the argument that parents have the right to ensure their children receive a religious education, one has to recognise that other parents have the right to ensure their children receive a secular education. That is not what those who make this argument are saying, however. They could not possibly be saying that. No State could guarantee a religious education to every family in the country. I do not know whether the committee realises that approximately 136 bodies in this country claim to be religions. They have made applications under the Civil Registrations Acts. Legislators cannot possibly guarantee that the State will pay for the children of families of every one of those religions to receive a religious education. It is not possible. Instead, the State is giving a right to a majority in a particular area.

The right to opt out is not enough. Under human rights law, secularism must be respected as a philosophical conviction. I can give the committee a definition of that which has come from the European court. It can be examined in the context of the Education Acts. On the question of respect, Article 2 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights does not permit a distinction to be drawn between religious instruction and other subjects. It enjoins the State to respect parents' convictions, be they religious or philosophical, throughout the entire State education programme. That duty is broad in its extent as it applies not only to the content of education and the manner of its provision but also to the performance of all the functions assumed by the State. The verb "respect" means more than "acknowledge" or "take into account". In addition to a primarily negative undertaking, it implies some positive obligation on the part of the State. The term "conviction", taken on its own, is not synonymous with the word "opinion" or the word "idea". It denotes views that attain a certain level of cogency, seriousness, cohesion and importance. That should be considered if the word "respect" is being put into legislation. That has already been done in section 15(2)(e) of the Education Act 1998, which obliges boards of management to "respect" the ways of life "of a democratic society". If one wants to guarantee that, one should adopt the recommendation of the Irish Human Rights Commission regarding section 15 of that Act, which is that the State should ensure the curriculum is delivered "in an objective, critical and pluralistic manner".