Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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One difficulty I have with this measure is that it is clearly not necessary in schools that do not already follow the practice. Will it encourage schools which do not have a quota to have one? Is there a way this could be stopped? The practice has gone on forever and I see no good reason to stop it, but neither do I see any good reason to start it. This issue may have been missed. If a ceiling of 25% is included in the legislation, it might end up becoming mandatory. It is an issue for certain schools that already follow the practice, but I certainly would not like to see it starting in other schools.