Dr. Ken Fennelly:

On the theoretical point Deputy Burton raised about prioritising and who we should prioritise, and Deputy Martin raised it as well, we would not want a scenario arising, particularly in the context of the quota system mentioned earlier, whereby a Protestant family would be displaced by another family simply because a quota would be held back. In other words, if Kilkenny College was filling its places on the full gamut of Protestant people, we would not want a scenario to arise where a Protestant family would not get a place but somebody else would because it would be open to challenge. That would go to the section 29 appeal process and create all sorts of problems.

On the quota aspect, I am slightly uneasy as to how that might work in practice. I know it is a good idea that people are going forward in the west Dublin area and, as Deputy Burton said, it seems to be working but I am slightly uneasy as to how it might work in practice across the board for Protestant minority schools.