Mr. John Suttle:

This committee has been asked to review proposed legislation to deal with admissions in schools in Ireland. The proposed legislation however ignores the elephant in the room, religious discrimination in admissions. A religious apartheid system of education is being introduced into our national schools. This is illegal. It is in breach of the Constitution and of international human rights agreements into which the State has entered and it is in breach of the Equal Status Act 2000. All schools receiving any support from the State must abide by the two principles of the national school system which are one, all religious denominations together in the same school, and two, with separate religious instruction. These are the two pillars of the national school system.
This State was founded by the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. This treaty is only three or four pages long with 18 clauses, 17 of which refer to political, financial and military matters. Only one, No. 16, has a social dimension which is to ensure that the provisions of the national school system carry through into the new State. This provision was carried through directly, using virtually the same words, into the Constitution of 1937. The provisions of the Constitution remain unchanged today, with parents having a right to privately funded denominational education, but where there is any State funding, all such schools must live within the two pillars of the national school system. The Equal Status Act 2000 continues these rights, under section 7(2) religious discrimination on admission to schools is banned. The exception in section 7(3)(c) does not apply to national schools because it is limited by Article 44.2.4^oof the Constitution.
The basis for the ethos of all national schools in seen in the foundation documents of typical schools. There are thousands of documents available to show that the ethos of all national schools under all patronages includes a commitment to be open with equality to children of all religious denominations. Religious instruction is allowed and encouraged in national schools but there are limits. Separate religious instruction worked perfectly well until the early 1970s and can work today. Children have a constitutional right to be allowed to go to their local national school without attending religious instruction. There has never been a report from any State body that recommended that our children should be divided at four years old into different religious denominations for their education. In fact there have been many Government-sponsored reports that have condemned what is going on. In 1996 the Constitutional Review Group said that the integrated curriculum, which was introduced in the early 1970s, is illegal because it removes the constitutional right of children to withdraw from religious indoctrination. This illegality remains today.
In 1998 in the Supreme Court, Mr. Justice Barrington inferred from Article 44.2.4^oof the Constitution that "if a school was in receipt of public funds any child, no matter what his religion, would be entitled to attend it." In 2011, the Irish Human Rights Commission, in its report on religion and education, stated that Article 44.2.4^oof the Constitution.provides that there may not be discrimination between different denominations in the State and that children have the right to attend State-aided schools without attending “religious instruction”.
There has never, however, been a direct judgment in any court, or a Government report directed specifically at religious discrimination in admissions policies. The report of the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector is the closest the State has come to seeking specific advice on how to deal with religion and primary education. The advisory group considers that enrolment policy in a stand-alone school should not discriminate on grounds of religious belief. This report has been turned completely on its head by the actions of the State.
The committee should be careful about whom it listens to. Schools at primary level receiving State financial support are national schools. The committee should watch out for anyone who never uses the term "national school", but always replaces it with "primary school", "parish school", "denominational school", "Catholic school" etc. The senior people involved in education understand very well that all primary schools receiving State funding must abide by the constitutional and legislative provisions which only allow for schools under the national school model, that is all religions together in the same school with separate religious instruction.
This is another disgrace for this country. We are heading for another humiliating redress programme. Nothing has changed in the Department of Education and Skills since the Ryan report condemned its support for the Catholic Church above the well-being of children, and above the law. This country has suffered from religious sectarianism for too long and just when our national schools were becoming multicultural, we are breaking the law and going against the Constitution to create religious apartheid in our schools. I hope that this committee will support the equal rights enshrined in our Constitution.