Mr. Paul Crone:

As I said in my opening statement, education in Ireland should be about enabling and empowering people, and that requires access. I agree with what Deputy Ó Ríordáin said. It is important to combined that with the point that everybody should have access to education at every level. This is an issue we have to deal with in certain areas where there is oversubscription for schools and then schools are put in an awkward position. Do they go with those living in the local area and attending the local feeder schools?

Everything is open to abuse, and as part of our connection with the wider European educational community, through the European School Heads Association, ESHA, we have explored how this issue is handled in other jurisdictions. I refer to local educational authorities assigning students to schools. In Ireland, however, this process is concerned with respecting the parental right to choose. Frequently, parents choose what is perceived to be the better school and they put the names of their children down for admission. As an example, two schools could be 500 m apart, with one getting 800 applicants and the other 30 applicants because of a perception of one being the better school or because one has DEIS status and the other does not.

Therefore, this is a wider issue. As a society, we must examine our vision for the Irish education system. What is it that we want it to do? The answer to that question will frame our admissions policy and how we tackle senior cycle reform. Is our vision for Irish education based on equality? Is it a vision for a system that is fair, open, transparent and to which everybody has access? If we decide as a society and a nation that we do want such a system, then everything else under that theme becomes an easier decision. The perspective of the NADP, then, is that we support the Bill.