Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach has said that the Minister for Education and Skills has given assurances but his attitude has created considerable concern. After two years there has been much unnecessary speculation of the fate of many Catholic and Church of Ireland schools all in the name of supposed reform. While it works well in some editorials, etc., that is about the size of it. There is no need for creating and escalating the concern when very little has happened in the past two years. We had well established structures that facilitated the pluralistic approach to school provision with different trustees, deeds of trust and so on which were agreed more than a decade ago with the evolution of different school types, representing faiths and none. One must question the approach of the Minister who is eagerly seeking a name for reform, but in terms of substance and content, very little is happening. From what the Taoiseach has said today there will be no divesting of a particular religion from any particular school nor will there be a secularisation agenda - we will wait and see on that.

I am puzzled that the Taoiseach has said the Minister for Health will go to Government next week with the heads of a Bill to address the A, B and C v. Ireland case. That probably means nothing will be enacted in this session given that the committee needs to examine the heads, after which, I presume, it has to go back to Government for the full Bill to be drafted. Would it be fair to say that we will not see the legislation until the autumn? I ask the Taoiseach to detail the attitude of the various churches to the Government's proposals. Did the Government outline the details of its proposals to them during this dialogue?

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