Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I do not disagree that we need to address the Equal Status Act and that it needs to be amended. We are examining in what way it could be amended to protect, for example, minority religions in terms of wanting to have their particular schools protected. If one is, for example, a member of the Jewish faith, a member of the Church of Ireland or a Muslim for that matter, if a school has to take in all the local children where the school is situated, it will not have that ethos protected. There has to be a way in which the legislation can be amended to take account of that and at the same time give some priority to children who live in close proximity to a school. Again, I am being direct in saying that I will not be doing that during the life of the current Government but I believe it is something that has to be addressed in the very near future.

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