Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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I completely agree with everything Deputy Daly has outlined. This is an issue he has been trying to resolve for years and he has been a very vocal advocate for extending the powers of the ombudsman. The Bill he published today provides for the establishment of an education ombudsman.

We also need to remember that there is legislation in place which allows schools to discriminate on the basis of religious ethos - for example, if someone is a single mother. If we are to be serious about it, while establishing an education ombudsman is part of the solution, we also need to remove the discriminatory legislation that remains on the Statute Book. That is how the Department can start to rectify this issue. If this legislation did not exist, the school in question would not have been able to deny that single mother a place based on its ethos. That is not to take away from the proposals of Deputy Daly. There is still a need for an education ombudsman and I fully support the proposal. There are other areas that we also need to look at; the matter is not only relevant in this area. We have had a lot of discussion about enrolment policies and people not being allowed into over-prescribed schools based on religion, and again, it is down to pieces of legislation which have absolutely no place on the Statute Book in this day and age.