Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The guests' presentations were probably some of the best we have had at this committee, considering that they are members of the public and not necessarily spokespeople for a national organisation.

We must totally re-evaluate our education system as often as we possibly can. We do not do it often enough. Our education system is something we have inherited from the past. We as a committee visited Finland and if one talks to anybody in Finland about what is the underpinning ethos of their education system, they all know what it is. It is equality and they will constantly remind one that it underpins their education system. I do not think that we have re-evaluated what ethos underpins our education system. It possibly is the choice of parents - our ethos is what guides our education policy - and that is something with which I personally am not comfortable.

I have a problem with the obsession we have in Ireland, for historical reasons, of linking education with religion. When I became a school principal the first thing I was told was to pare down every decision I would make to make sure that the child was at the centre of it. Far too often in education we pare down decisions we make - there are geographical considerations, ethos and many interest groups - but far too often children are not at the centre of those decisions. That is why I am pleased that the vast majority of presentations today had children fundamentally at the centre of what we are trying to achieve.

I was particularly taken by Mr. Malone's presentation. He works in this field. The issue of admissions comes to the head where demand exceeds supply. A minority of schools will use their admission policies to keep their schools as mono-cultural and middle class as possible. There will be school A, school B, and school C and in my constituency school C tends to get all the Traveller children, all the immigrant children and all the children with special needs and the other schools will utilise their admission policy and their ethos to ensure that they stay as mono-cultural and middle class as possible because they are all in competition with each other and they all need the numbers to keep the school going. Such inter-school rivalry and inter-school competition is another problem in our education system.

In terms of the 25% limit, I completely agree with our guests. With regard to the idea that a son or grandson or a daughter or granddaughter would have priority admission over somebody else, what is proposed in the Bill in this respect is an improvement but it is not perfect and I do not believe anybody would suggest that it is. The 25% limit is an improvement but I do not believe it is necessary. If one's father did not go to secondary school or if one comes from another part of the country or from another country, how can one compete for a place in a secondary school on that basis?

I am striving, as I believe other people are, for a society and a republic where children go to school together and nothing else is important. We have not got our head around that yet and everything else seems to be more important. Mr. McCabe has raised a very important aspect which we have not considered properly up to now. It is incumbent on all of us to take what he has said on board and to work on it and make sure it is reflected in the Bill because he is talking about the most vulnerable children, provision for whom needs to be reflected in legislation.

I thank our guests for their presentations. The spirit of what we are trying to achieve is acknowledged but the nuts and bolts of it will be more difficult to achieve.