Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Notwithstanding the Minister's goodwill towards my motivation, I am crushingly disappointed by her attitude to the Bill and by the Department's response to the Bill. It flies completely in the face of what the Minister is trying to do this week in respect of section 37A of the Education Act. We are told to rush through legislation this week in order for it to be ready for September, yet we are told that schools cannot change their admissions policies for this September or even the following September. The Minister tells me there is no evidence this provision has any effect. Why is it there, then? The very basis of the argument is that if even one child is disadvantaged by the provision, it needs to go. I am blue in the face making the same argument over and over again but I will make it again. This provision was inserted at the behest of those who are trying unfairly to keep an elitist bloodline running through certain schools' admissions policies, from grandfather to father to son or from grandmother to mother to daughter. It is patently unfair on, for example, children of early school leavers, children whose parents are not from the area and, indeed, children whose parents are not from Ireland. We can say all we want about Ukrainian students in this State, but I ask the Minister to imagine if even one Ukrainian was not able to access a second level school place on the basis of this provision because there are greater rights for those whose parents or grandparents went to the school in question. The lack of energy or understanding on the part of the Department on this baffles me because there is no argument against what I and the committee and people such as Deputy Ó Laoghaire, who supported this Bill, are trying to achieve. This provision should not have been put into law in the first place; it should not still be there. I ask the Minister to imagine even one family in this State saying in years to come: "We had hoped our child might be admitted to second level school A, but it was not possible because my parents did not go to school." In a Republic, it should make us all deeply ashamed that such a provision exists.

I remember the previous debate we had on this in the Dáil. I walked into the Chamber and was excited as to what the Minister might provide. I remember my first contribution being to the effect that I hoped she had come to the table with some level of understanding as to how we could collectively work together. I was crushed by her presentation because I believe in these Houses of the Oireachtas and I believe there is no opposition, really, to what we are trying to achieve here.

Education is everything. It is all that has benefited some families to break out of poverty. Education is the only opportunity unless one's parents have money. This is why it is so emotivel and so important.

I would ask the Minister to reconsider her position and the Department's position on this. The Minister could easily row in behind this. The provision could easily be deleted. Every school in the country only has to change its enrolment policies for September 2023. It is as simple as that. One no longer gets to choose a child whose parents or grandparents went to this school over some other child. It is as simple as that.

It is having an effect in areas that I represent or on parents who come to me from all over the country. It is patently wrong and patently unfair. The argument that we cannot be sure how many people are affected by it does not stack up. It should not be there and it needs to go.

In summary, I have been leading this process. I was delighted to be in the position to bring it forward. The Department told me that the Minister would delay Second Stage for 12 months in order to do all the groundwork that needed to be done and I waited patiently from November 2020 to November 2021. The Minister knows that is true. We delayed the passing of Second Stage for 12 months. We are in a position where the Minister comes back to this table and I am patiently waiting here for this Bill to be passed, but we want more reviews and we want to see how schools can have a number of admissions cycles to work through it. What the Minister is doing is wrong. The Minister knows it is wrong. The Department knows its wrong. I do not know what lobby group has such a hold over the Department that this needs to stay. I can imagine who they are.

On this issue, the Minister needs to change her position. The Minister needs to row in behind the Bill. This section of the Act needs to be deleted. We could all go back to normal and look children in the eye in September 2023 and say that it does not matter who one's parents or grandparents are.