Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I reiterate my support for this legislation. I commend Deputy Ó Ríordáin on his work in relation to it.

We had pre-legislative scrutiny of this legislation. There is no coherent argument against it. There is no argument that ultimately holds any water.

On the argument around most of the schools being undersubscribed, the problem, as with anything, in relation to admissions and who is admitted will only arise when a school is oversubscribed. It is for that reason we have regulations as such. It is for that reason we have admissions policies. If no school was oversubscribed, we would not need admissions policies at all and every child would simply have a place.

The circumstances in which this applies - maybe in most schools it is not an issue because they are not oversubscribed - arise in the schools which are oversubscribed. There are parts of the country where there is severe competition for school places in areas where there is a large young population. In parts of Cork, much of Dublin, Kildare, parts of Wicklow and parts of County Meath there is a significant young population. In those places, what the current legislation allows for is that where there are a limited number of places and there is a decision to be made between a child who lives 15 miles away but whose father or mother attended the school and a child who lives five doors away, it is the child who lives 15 miles away who will be preferred. That is objectively true under the current proposal. It provides that a school takes up the scope and the powers that it has to put in place such an admissions policy. That being the case, that is the child who will be preferred. That should not be acceptable to us in any way.

It is perfectly reasonable, in terms of families and their arrangements, etc., that preference is given to siblings. That is a reasonable proposition, but in relation to parents, and even grandparents, one is potentially disadvantaging the local child. It is the local child who should be at the centre of any decisions made on admissions. Every child should be in a position to attend his or her local school provided that there are adequate spaces and if there are not, decisions about who gets in need to be made on a fair basis. It is not a fair basis to prioritise those whose parents or grandparents attended. One will continue to have a school tradition because many families will still live in the local community and many children will attend the school their parents and grandparents attended; the traditions, the culture and the history of the school can continue in that way, but it should not be at the expense of the child who lives five doors away from the school.