Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The obligation of the State is to provide education. Where applications are made for a school by various groups around the country they are subjected to public consultation and the commission on schools analyses the need in a particular area. That does not necessarily mean that complete freedom of choice is available in every area. The historical reality is that schools were provided by the church and religious orders to educate the poor when nobody else would do it. That element should not be written out of the equation.

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