Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive reply. I have extensive knowledge of the issues arising in both schools as I was intimately involved in securing temporary recognition for them in 2008 and have continued to work with both of them. I strongly support their efforts to secure permanent recognition. As the Minister of State outlined, the major obstacle is the need to comply with the standard rules and procedures. The concept of pluralism must be adhered to in this matter. The Educate Together movement is based on a different model.

Ultimately, the issue concerns the curriculum. The Department has failed to recognise the Steiner approach to education and the benefits it provides for certain children. I have observed these benefits for children and families in the community with which I am most familiar, especially in east County Clare where Raheen Wood school has been operating for 20 years. These benefits outstrip rules or procedures that may appear in the annals or depths of the Department. For this reason, I ask that the Department commence a review of the Steiner model of education. It must not try to fit a square peg into a round hole. When efforts were made to place the schools in question on a path towards permanent recognition, they were expected to conform to the rigours of the existing model. Although they are working towards that objective and are, as the Minister of State indicated, making significant progress in this regard, it will not be possible to get the square peg into a round hole and retain the best aspects of the Steiner model of education. I ask that the Department commence a review that will not seek to marry the two systems. The two schools will lose out if they are required to morph into standard national schools.

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