Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

On the issue of education, Members will appreciate that most of the meetings have been attended by officials. We have tried to model them on structured dialogue that took place in other countries. The French model is particularly successful and its constitutional position of not affording any church priority over another religion or faith community is respected throughout the world. However, there are normal, traditional connections between the main churches and Departments and I do not want to detract from this. The minority churches would be very strong in this regard and they have always had a position — I will not say a privileged position — in which they were able to state their case and protect the minority communities throughout the country. They were always afforded the opportunity to do so under the Governments of the day. I do not want to change a model that works and has worked well.

The issues of education, integration and structural change are now considerable for all the churches. Without stating the agenda, my discussion with the Church of Ireland certainly concerned its desire to protect its community and ensure that the State would continue to provide schools and facilities therefor, although it might not be for a large number. It is a question of not diminishing the access the church traditionally had to the Departments. Issues also arise for many of the new churches and faiths, which are now quite substantial in number.

During Question Time I mentioned the school in Hartstown. Its principal and the Archbishop of Dublin, who was speaking on the day of my visit, pointed out that there are 29 nationalities and 14 religions represented in the school. Although the school is under the patronage of the Archbishop of Dublin, making progress in this regard requires a fair bit of working out. These are difficulties we have never faced before but which we must face in the future.

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