Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will ask some questions in order to understand better the system in the North of Ireland. Many of the challenges faced in the North are not a million miles away from the challenges we face. We are looking at the issue of the predominance of faith patronage. I am a member of the Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection and we have discussed whether there should be an increase in the diversity of patronage or whether to provide one model to cater for all. It is very welcome that a recent call for expressions of interest received a positive response from more than 50 schools.

Will the delegation clarify whether the integrated schools are state schools under private patronage or a mixture of both? Do the integrated schools tend to be co-educational? I am aware that the North also has the phenomenon of single-sex schools but since the 1990s, no new school in the Republic is allowed to be established as a single-sex school. Any single-sex schools are legacy schools. What is the position in Northern Ireland? Are the integrated schools multi-denominational, non-denominational or a mixture of both? In some cases, schools here that are non-denominational describe themselves as multi-denominational and vice versa, which can cause confusion.

We have published new legislation on a schools admissions policy. The current legislation has been in place since 1998, under which schools must publish their enrolment policy. The new legislation, if passed, will put further requirements on schools to be open and transparent in their policy in order to limit, to a certain extent, barriers and discrimination against children. Is similar legislation planned or in place in the North?

One phenomenon which sometimes occurs here is when parents decide to set up a school with the ideals of Educate Together, for instance. These schools are often predominately middle class. However, it is not always the case because Educate Together schools contain a mixture. Is this an issue in integrated schools? Is there an equivalent of vocational educational schools in the North? These schools have a much broader mixed socio-economic background. Mr. Proctor referred to the pitfalls of parental choice. This is an issue of concern to me. Some parents can use choice to the advantage of their children while other parents are not able to do so and their children are disadvantaged as a result.