Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Putting forward amendment No. 16 was the only way I could see of getting round the restriction of not being able to open up the Equal Status Act. I saw in it some way of tackling the baptism barrier. The amendment states: "In page 6, line 13, after “school” to insert “not aided by the Department of Education and Skills”. I am of the opinion that this would mean schools which are State-funded could not then discriminate. Is the Minister suggesting this would only apply to the private schools? To clarify, we are talking about schools not aided by the Department of Education and Skills. If we are that specific, we can then tackle the baptism barrier to some extent.