Ms Jane Donnelly:

I will address some of the constitutional issues on the freedom of religion. I am representing the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, evangelical Christians and Atheist Ireland. Currently, the State is protecting some minority faiths and the majority faith, while discriminating against other minority faiths. Church of Ireland schools, for example, give priority to members of the Church of Ireland. They may then go down their lists and offer places to children from a Methodist or Presbyterian background. Mr. Nick Park informs me that he receives letters from Church of Ireland schools asking him to confirm that his particular church is a church. This means boards of management are deciding whether his church is a church and making a decision on whether to enrol a minority Protestant child from an evangelical background.

The two Muslim schools are under the Islamic Foundation of Ireland, a Sunni Islam organisation. These schools will not enrol Ahmadiyya Muslims because Sunni Muslims do not believe Ahmadiyya Muslims are proper Muslims. An issue arises with the second part of section 7(3)(c) of the Equal Status Act because the Muslim schools argue that their ethos is being undermined. Will we have some Islamic schools for Sunni Muslims and others for Ahmadiyya Muslims? Will we have minority faith schools for children from a Church of Ireland background and others for Presbyterian and evangelical children? We cannot go down that road. If the Constitution protects religious freedom and freedom of conscience, it does so for everybody, not only the religious majority in a particular area.

The main problem for us is what happens in schools because the religious ethos of a particular school permeates the entire school day. As the religious schools will tell us, their purpose is to evangelise.

However, as they are evangelising children from their own faith, our children are being evangelised with them. That does not protect religious freedom, as promised in the Constitution. If the Constitution was designed to protect religious freedom and protect all citizens, it should protect us all. It does not do so, however, because our right to freedom of conscience in respect of religion and beliefs is being disregarded to protect minority religions. The very same goes for minorities within minorities, which is what is happening in the country.

Another question concerned what we took from the last report. We ask the committee to consider again the view that the multiple patronage ethos is undermining religious freedom, freedom of conscience and freedom from discrimination. We should be trying to promote these rights which we do not have. They are not in place for minorities. The constitutional argument is that one needs minority faith and religious schools to buttress religion, but this is not being achieved. The Constitution has failed to do this because we do not have those rights.