Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have no doubt that the committee covered many different matters while we were in the Chamber. I look forward to watching the recording of the debate later. I have a particular interest in the area of special education. Mr. Rowe commented on the specific statement of non-discrimination in sections 61 and 62. I would like to see details of the changes Ms Corr would like to see made to these sections and any practical implications they would have. The witnesses should feel free to come back to us with any of that type of information or on the need to distinguish the special education classes and hard coding that into the Bill.

Does the requirement for all Irish medium primary schools to give preference to future students who have attended naíonraí vary from school to school or does it depend on different levels of oversubscription?

Deputy Thomas Byrne asked me to present his apologies, he had to attend another meeting. He and I are concerned about there being no religious barrier. I do believe we need to move forward in the secular world but I am concerned about minority religions, for example, in Newbridge, where I live, there is a great Educate Together school, Catholic schools and a small Church of Ireland school that many people want to go to because it is small. I would be concerned that it would not be able to take Church of Ireland children and would have to take students from the area. How do we find a balance in respect of this issue?

Ms Donnelly mentioned human rights and recommended a secular school system. Could she share the experience of how this has worked in other countries for example, France?

The Education and Training Boards Ireland, ETBI, has taken on 11 community schools. Does Mr. O'Mahony envisage the model of the community national school as the way forward for secularisation? He says the Bill will give the school principal responsibility for the admissions policy. Does he think that puts more pressure on principals without adequate resources? No matter what happens in respect of a school's admissions policy, it has to be transparent and published. The Department has to have some overarching remit for dealing with this matter. There needs to be some type of conversation regarding admission policies, rather than simply having them published.

He referred to appeals against the refusal of a student and the need for an external final court of appeal. Who would conduct that final review? As a member of a board of management I have been involved in these appeals and would be interested in Mr. O'Mahony’s opinion.