Dr. David Doyle:

We conducted these interviews in 2018 with the various stakeholders. Most of it was welcomed. Even the sibling rule did not provoke any opposition among the interviewees but it is important to remember that just because this provision is removed, it is not going to exclude every child who had a parent or grandparent in that school. There will still be a large cohort of children there whose parent or grandparent went to that school, by virtue of the sibling rule or the various different criteria in regard to feeder schools, geography and so on. It is a fact that this seems neutral on the face of it but in practice, and especially in particular areas where there is over-subscription, it is in effect blatantly discriminatory.