Dr. David Doyle:

Any criteria is going to involve certain people being excluded and that is problematic. From my point of view, what is really problematic with this provision is that while on the face of it, it is a neutral provision but it has a particularly discriminatory impact on certain people who are never going to meet the criteria. To contrast it with the other type of criteria the Deputy mentioned, at least there is some possibility that the criteria may be met. Obviously, geography and locality can give rise to situations where somebody might miss out because the cut-off point might be half-way through an estate. That seems unbelievably harsh but at least there is some possibility of meeting the criteria whereas with this provision, it is virtually impossible for this cohort of children.