Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will start with the questions on the attendance of Pope Francis at the World Meeting of Families in Dublin. My Department, through its protocol division, is assisting the church authorities in the organisation and preparations that need to be made for that visit. Even though it is not formally a State visit, the assistance provided to Pope Francis will be the same as if it were. Pope Francis will be given the full support of the State in terms of protocol, security and any other matters. I understand from Archbishop Martin that the Pope's major interest in the visit is, of course, attending the World Meeting of Families. This is why he is coming to Ireland and Dublin. He may do one or two other things, but the focus of the visit will be the World Meeting of Families and the events associated with it. Any decision on whether he will also visit Northern Ireland is, of course, a matter for him and the Vatican.

I certainly want to join others in acknowledging the worries and legitimate concerns of people in Ballivor in County Meath at the proposed opening of a Narconon centre there. This is, nonetheless, a free country which guarantees free association to people and citizens, so I am not sure whether the Government can do anything if it has planning permission for the centre. Certainly, if people are there by free will and their own decision and they are not been detained against their will, it is difficult to know what actions the Government can take. I will certainly speak to my public representatives in the area to see whether there is a way forward.

With regard to abortion, my role, and that of the Minister for Health, at the meeting was largely to outline the process to date. The process was established by the Government, which set up the Citizens' Assembly which then made recommendations which were considered by an all-party Oireachtas committee. The reports of the Oireachtas joint committee and the Citizens' Assembly are now being considered by the Government and the Cabinet will make a decision shortly. It is fair to say the Roman Catholic Church was opposed to the repeal of the eighth amendment. The Protestant congregations were a little bit more nuanced, but were not supportive of the proposals made by the Oireachtas joint committee. I certainly agree, as did they, that the debate that will occur over the next few months about changes to our laws should be respectful. They should not be personalised and nobody should be pressurised to take a particular view or decision. I call for respect from all sides for all sides in the debate. The people will ultimately make this decision and I trust the people to make the right decision based on compassion and empathy while not disrespecting human life.

There were discussions on school patronage, but most of this will be followed up bilaterally between the congregations and the churches and the Department of Education and Skills. The view of the Government was that what should be paramount are the wishes of parents, especially parents of preschool children who are not already attending school. There will be appropriate consultation and appropriate collaboration in achieving any change of patronage.

I very much agree with the views of others on the need to respect minority groups and to protect minority schools. All of us have a small Church of Ireland or Protestant school in our constituency that is a very important part of the fabric of those communities and we very much support them. We did not have an opportunity to discuss sex education or uniform policy.

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