Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Troy for sharing his time. I will be brief because our education spokesman, Deputy Thomas Byrne, has indicated to our Parliamentary Party, the media and others our policy on this Bill. I welcome the Bill. It is important and will bring about some necessary change, which we welcome.

It must be said that my constituency of Roscommon-Galway has a very good policy of accepting all children into its schools. Admittedly, the schools do not have waiting lists, although obviously one tends to encounter more problematic situations in the big urban areas. I am proud of the fact that many of our schools have a good policy in this regard. It is important that such a policy should be in place in all schools. Like Deputy Troy and Deputy Thomas Byrne, I am a practising Catholic but I always refer back to what is said about education in our Constitution, that all of the children of the nation should be treated equally. It is most important to include that in this Bill.

The Bill has a number of good provisions. It removes the provision dealing with the past-pupil rule, an issue that has been spoken about a great deal. The Minister said it will be dealt with on Committee Stage and by ministerial regulation. I am sure that will happen but our party will ensure it is dealt with on further Stages. The Bill also explicitly prohibits the use of certain additional selection criteria in school admission policies. These include a student's prior attendance at preschool; the payment of fees, which is a huge issue and Deputy Troy has addressed it; the occupation or financial status of the parents of a student, which is an important issue for me; a student's academic ability, skills or aptitude; a requirement that a student or his or her parents attend an interview, open day or other meeting as a condition of admission; and the date on which the application for admission was received by the school. Barring schools from using these provisions to select students for admission is welcome. It is something our party and our spokesman on education, Deputy Thomas Byrne, have sought. Indeed, our party has campaigned on this issue for a number of years. The big issue here is the retention of the denominational status or religion as a basis for use in admission policies. We believe that no parent should have to baptise their child simply to get him or her into a school. All children, regardless of religious denomination or outlook, should have access to a school in their local community.

In conclusion, I wish to mention a matter referred to by Deputies Troy and Thomas Byrne. The financial strain many schools are under at present is extraordinary. The Minister is correct that we cannot have application fees; nobody wants them. However, as Deputy Troy said, schools are being pushed into that situation because they are short of finance. I have been involved in school management boards. Schools are struggling to keep all of the services going. In Ireland, we are very lucky to have the commitment of our teachers and the people on school management boards. It is extremely important that we alleviate this financial burden on our schools to some degree. The problem is that it gets worse with each year. It is a massive challenge now for schools and communities. I am sure the Minister is aware of that and I hope he will address it. I thank Deputy Troy for sharing his time.

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