Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

If the best interests of the child applied we would not have discrimination on religious grounds. It is not any consolation this might be the case. The Minister has already spelled out he has deleted the grounds on which places can be refused relating to section 7(3)(c). My point is that having deleted this, the Minister's amendment seeking to reference the admissions policy of schools in the locality will restore that provision because the admissions policy of the schools in the locality allows them to discriminate on religious grounds. It is often very hard for children with special needs to get into mainstream schools, particularly their local mainstream school. In a situation where the parents were not able to locate or source a school and the council or the Child and Family Agency designates a school as being suitable and states it is the school suitable for the child who has special needs, the idea the school could then appeal this on the grounds of religion, and that a child with special needs not subscribing to the same religious beliefs would undermine the ethos of the school, seems shocking. Many schools are very good at welcoming children with special needs, but some schools go out of their way to not take children with special needs. This provides grounds for refusing a place to a special needs child where a school has already been designated as the most suitable school for the child but a child with special needs will then be expected to jump another hurdle. Acceptance of the amendment, whereby the admissions policy of schools in the locality would apply, means if a school has a policy of refusal on the grounds of religion then a special needs child can be refused on the grounds of religion. While on the one hand the Minister has removed those grounds, on the other hand he is replacing them with the general provision of the admissions policy of schools in the locality.