Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Tógfaidh mé ceithre nóiméad. I welcome this Bill because I strongly believe we need to reform fundamentally the schools admission practices in all State-funded schools and ensure equality of access, participation and opportunity in our schools. While what is proposed in this Bill is preferable to the current system, it does not go far enough. What is required is quite simple: no State-funded school should be able to discriminate for or against a child on the basis of his or her religion. How can it be fair that a child who lives right beside a school and whose name was the first to be placed on the admissions list can miss out on a place because he or she is not of the preferred religion? Of course there is a place for freedom of religion and religious schools in Ireland. This should be both recognised and respected, but not in an exclusive way. Taxpayers’ money should not be funding discrimination.

Our children are growing up in a worrying time. This worry is caused not just by the external existential threat of climate change, but also by the much more frightening human threats of hate, fear, anger, intolerance and violence. In recent times, we have seen the rise of far-right nationalism in Europe, the nomination of Donald Trump as a candidate for the Presidency of the USA and the anti-immigration rhetoric that fuelled large parts of the ultimately successful "Leave" campaign in the Brexit referendum. All of this leaves me more concerned for our children's future than I have ever been before. It has left me with an even stronger conviction that we must fight this fear with courage, this anger with love and this hate with tolerance. We must defeat exclusion and alienation with inclusivity in everything we do, including how we educate our children.

The most valuable lesson any child can learn is that of respect and love for all the people around him or her, regardless of their ethnicity, their religion, the language they speak or where they are from. No danger is greater to our children than the danger of isolation and insulation. It is a great tragedy if a child cannot encounter other children who come from different backgrounds, cultures, points of view, ways of life or religious beliefs. A child who cannot interact with the wonderful diversity of our country and our world to the fullest possible extent is a child whose childhood is not as rich as it should be. Our schools are where our children make friends. While the religious ethos of so many of our schools is helping to shape the good values of the people of our country, no child should be denied a possible friend because he or she prays in a different way, or he or she does not pray at all.

In saying this, I acknowledge the huge contribution made by the religious to education over hundreds of years. They were often the only educators who were playing an invaluable role at home and abroad. They are renowned throughout the world. In years gone by, they provided education in a voluntary capacity, and at times at great risk to their own lives. We must also acknowledge, embrace and cater for a changing modern society in which all our children are treated equally when it comes to education. Religious discrimination has no place in modern society. All schools in receipt of State funding should be fair, transparent and inclusive in their admissions policies. Discrimination on the basis of religion would not be tolerated in any other walk of life and the education system should be no different.

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