Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join our chairman in welcoming all of our guests and thank them for taking the time very much in an individual capacity to access this Bill and come forward with their very considered thoughts on it and their proposals on how it may be improved. As this is our third hearing on this Bill, we have discussed many of the issues with which our guests have dealt. I do not have too many questions but I will ask a few before I pass on to fellow members.

The first speaker, Sr. Marie Céline Clegg, made the point that as many schools are following the procedures proposed already, that what is proposed is excessive. To flip that back, I would ask if most are doing it already, why would it be such an issue to enshrine it in legislation? She also referred to the procedures in the Bill for those who wish to remove themselves from religious instruction within the curriculum and that there is not also the right for those who may wish to have it. She might elaborate on that point.

The points made about children in care are ones the committee has not discussed in depth previously. They were put very well and provide much food for thought, as do the wider legal arguments which were put. Our guests have given us much food for thought and I thank them for giving of their time.