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

Tá an Comhaontas Glas sásta tacaíocht a thabhairt don Bhille. The Bill seeks to tackle the issue of the baptism barrier in our schools and the place of religion in our schools. This is not the first time we have dealt with this issue in this House and not the first time I have had the opportunity to contribute on it. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Skills is currently examining two Bills - the Government's Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016 and the Labour Party's Equal Status (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016. Neither Bill deals adequately with the issues created by the baptism barrier. I welcome Deputy Coppinger's Bill today because it seizes much more effectively on an opportunity to remove the baptism barrier from our schools. This is an issue the Minister in his Bill has skirted around entirely and which the Labour Party has sought only to water down instead of removing in its Bill.

Schools should reflect the modern diversity of families and communities. No State-funded school should be able to discriminate for or against a child on the basis of his or her religion. Our country is home to a wide diversity of people with a wide diversity of faiths. It is essential that our schools be a place where all are welcomed, whether they are of any faith or none. We cannot continue with a system where taxpayers' money is funding discrimination in our schools. I welcome the provisions in this Bill which seek to remove religious instruction from the school day. Not alone is this necessary for the equality in the classroom, but it shifts the onus onto parents and religious leaders for the education of their children in their faith. Our Constitution recognises parents as the primary educator of children, and it is right that they should take on the responsibility of educating their children in their faith if they so wish. It is, however, important that we note the contribution made by the religious to the education of our children and our young people down through the generations. For many years they were the only people willing to take on the burden of education for the children of Ireland and abroad, and many of us owe our education to schools founded and run by the religious.

As legislators, however, we must do all in our power to protect our children from becoming isolated and insulated, and we cannot risk depriving our children of the rich lasting experience of encountering children who come from different cultures, different points of view or different religious beliefs. No child should be denied a friend because he or she prays in a different way or does not pray at all. A child who cannot interact with the wonderful diversity of our country and our world to the fullest extent is a child whose childhood has not been as rich as it ought to be. It is imperative we embrace our diversity as a nation. Our children are growing up in worrying times, facing the challenges of the far right and populists preaching intolerance and hate for those who are "other" - other nationalities, other races, other genders, other sexual orientations and other religions. However, children simply do not see these differences; they see only other children. We cannot let religious division keep some children apart from others. It is in our diversity that our children learn the values of tolerance and respect and love for others, regardless of religion or any other difference.

Our responsibility is to show those who would hate and divide that we celebrate our diversity. We do not just tolerate diversity, but we embrace it and become enriched by it. We have a State and a society based on a Constitution that guarantees the equality of all, and discrimination on the grounds of religion can be no part of that. Religious discrimination has no place in a modern society. All schools in receipt of State funding should be fair, transparent, and inclusive. The Green Party will support the Bill because 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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