Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

I welcome the fact that the Minister will meet the various interested parties. There has been some progress with regard to some of the children since I tabled the question. Does the Minister accept that it is the responsibility of the Minister for Education and Science to ensure that all children under the school leaving age have the opportunity to go to school? Will the Minister ensure some measure is put in place to prevent this happening again in Limerick in future years?

This is a problem not just in Limerick. Educational apartheid is practised in all cities, whereby children from certain backgrounds go to certain schools and children from less well off backgrounds tend to be excluded from those schools in one way or another. Those schools are operating against the spirit of the Education Act 1998, if not the provisions of the Act. Will the Minister introduce regulations under section 33 of the Education Act to ensure there is equality of access to schools? This is a nationwide problem.

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