Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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I read the submissions of the organisations represented here today. Apologies for my late arrival; I had another engagement. I thank the witnesses for attending. I think this is a most important issue.

From reading some of the submissions, I think that in a way it goes without saying, but it is worth putting on record, that yes, sometimes these issues only arise in the minority of cases but that is when enrolment policies matter. In the vast majority of instances, school enrolment is fairly straightforward. It is where there is high demand that it becomes a significant issue. Not exclusively, but typically, that is in the large urban centres and the counties around Dublin. I will put my questions to any of the witnesses who wants to respond.

Some of the concerns that have been raised relate to the issue of continuity. It has been said that family and connections inform the values of the school and the school community. My own view on that is that while that is entirely legitimate and perhaps desirable, the key point is that it should not disadvantage a child who is in the local community. Those are the potential circumstances that can arise and this Bill seeks to avoid them. Such circumstances include cases where there is an oversubscribed school, there is a child in the community who has applied to go to the school, whose parents may not be from the locality or even the country originally, and they are in competition with a child who is not living as locally, whose parents did go to that school. I know that family connections to schools matter. I do not believe that they are of no value or should be discarded lightly. However, the point is that the local child should be the key priority. I ask for a response from the witnesses on that point.

I do not have the submissions in front of me. I ask the witnesses to correct me if I am wrong, but I think the JMB raised an interesting point on another issue relating to school admissions, namely, that there is a need for a two-year run-in for children with SEN who are trying to seek placements. We have come across this issue in my own office in relation to the new disability teams trying to get up and running and the challenges that they have faced. There have been cases where children have applied to get into a school but they do not have the educational placement assessment document. It is an interesting idea and one that is worth exploring.

As a final observation, not all the bodies represented here necessarily have dealings with primary schools, although obviously, ETBI does. Another issue that I have come across in relation to school admissions at primary level is the inflexibility that exists around school planning areas. In cases where a primary school is oversubscribed or is located on the very edge of a school planning area, a child from the far end of the school planning area - which can be quite large and take in several towns - has priority over a child who might live 2 km or 3 km away, but just falls on the wrong side of that line. Obviously, that is an issue that only arises in circumstances where a school is oversubscribed, but I have come across it. It comes up in areas where schools are oversubscribed, such as Cork, Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow. I ask the representatives of the organisations that are dealing with primary schools for their observations on how that issue arises. Perhaps it also applies in relation to secondary schools. That is all I have for the minute. Generally speaking, I agree with the objective of the Bill. It is a straightforward Bill. There is a value in preserving family connections, but for me, the local child has to be at the centre of things and they have to be given that highest priority. That is how it should be.