Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I concur with everything Deputy Martin has said about this. We cannot have a situation where somebody who lives adjacent to a school cannot get into that school because he or she is not of a particular religious ethos. It is not acceptable in this day and age. The Government is forcing parents to either move to a school 6 km or 7 km away in some cases, or to get their child baptised. No modern society should treat education in that way. The Minister has talked about this. All the Opposition parties have produced legislation to abolish the section in the Act. The Government said it would deal with it under the education (admissions to schools) Bill, which was not even published. This must be addressed today.

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