Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Naughton and I were members of the all-party Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. It met departmental officials on the ancillary recommendations it was considering. One of the big concerns raised was the fact that school patrons and management have the ultimate say in terms of implementation. I share that concern, although I welcome the Minister's comments on factual information and so forth. The next session of this committee will involve discussion of these issues with patrons or joint managerial bodies. However, the lingering concern is that, because of the manner in which the patronage and management system works, schools would be able to implement this requirement as they see fit in spite of the good intentions of all present to ensure that it is factually based.