Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I am afraid that is not good enough. Do not get me wrong: people have a right to their religion and if they wish to instruct their children on a particular religious view in their own time, privately or some other way, they are entitled to do so, but the idea that publicly funded schools could discriminate in any shape or form on the basis of religion, or any other basis, is just not acceptable. That is what equality and equal status mean. That is what equal admission to schools means. Equality means no discrimination. It is an unambiguous concept which does not need to be qualified. The reason it is being qualified by the Government in its proposals which represent some improvement is we have outsourced our responsibility in the area of education to religious bodies. Therefore, we are forced into trying to find compromises with them, but we should not have to and I do not accept it. Equality is equality and equal status is equal status. Eliminating discrimination should occur across the board or it is nothing. Therefore, I will press the amendment.

With regard to the rest of the Bill, the removal of some of the soft barriers is an improvement. I am not disputing that but to have a Bill about admission to schools that does not deal comprehensively with the issue of ensuring equality of access, on religious grounds, is not acceptable. I forgot to mention in my introduction that I also have an amendment on the issue of special needs, special needs units and the obligations of schools in that regard, but it, too, has been ruled out of order. That just does not make sense to me. What I am describing are barriers to admission. Barriers that are discriminatory or create a playing field that is not level are not acceptable. Therefore, I will press the amendment.