Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

At this stage in the country's development it is time to get rid of section 7(3)(c) of the Equal Status Act. It is impossible to justify the retention of that discriminatory legislation on any grounds. We talked about this over a long period last year. It is almost a year since we had Committee Stage and there was a very strong view right across the committee that this measure needed to go. There is no way one can support a fully State funded education system that is empowered to refuse a child access to a school solely on the basis of his or her religion. That is what section 7(3)(c) allows us to do at the moment.

Our schools should be inclusive places. They should recognise the importance of diversity and ensure equal respect for all children, irrespective of their background or their parents' religious persuasion, but that is not what schools do. It is what a very small number of schools do. I refer to those schools in the multidenominational sector, specifically the Educate Together schools. From the point of view of the majority of schools, namely, the 95% of schools which are church controlled in terms of patronage, the law, as it stands, allows them to discriminate between four and five-year olds on the basis of their parents' stated religion. It allows schools that are fully State funded, the local school that is paid for by the parents and community in general, to refuse to take a child on the basis of him or her not being baptised. There is no justification for that. It is a shameful provision in our legislation and it should have been abolished long ago.

Schools are allowed to discriminate, which results in an outrageous situation where parents feel that they have no choice other than to get their children baptised into a religion to which they may not subscribe and in which they do not want their child to be brought up. They have to go through this sham purely for the sake of getting a place in their local school. At this stage, that should be utterly intolerable to everybody in the country.

Many of us have felt for a long time that this requirement is fundamentally unacceptable and should have been abolished. It is undoubtedly anti-child, anti-education and blatant discrimination. At the time the Social Democrats proposed a Bill to abolish section 7(3)(c), I made the point that if we saw a law like this being proposed by Donald Trump, for example, or Marine Le Pen, we would be rightly appalled at the notion. I do not think any one of us here would do anything but condemn such an approach by another jurisdiction, yet we allow it to continue in our country.

We need to move on this. Notwithstanding the fact that 11 months have elapsed since Committee Stage, I acknowledge that the Minister has moved very substantially on this issue but he has still not gone far enough. I have concerns about the approach he proposes to take. Most of us would agree that section 7(3)(c), which allows discrimination against young children is abhorrent, and should not be allowed. What the Minister is proposing is that in the vast majority of schools it would not be allowed but it would still be allowed in some schools, namely, minority faith schools. Either discrimination is wrong or it is not, and in this case most people would regard it as completely wrong. On that basis, we need to remove section 7(3)(c).

To a large extent, the Minister is proposing an Irish solution to an Irish problem. We should tackle this problem head on and deal with it in a comprehensive way, not in a particular way that deals with certain schools but not all schools. Discrimination against children on religious grounds is wrong and it is wrong when carried out by any religious group or any type of denominational school. For that reason, it should go completely.

I am concerned that if the Minister proceeds in the way he has suggested, he might leave the State open to legal challenge. He might inform us of his legal advice in that regard. It is hard to see how we can have one rule for one religion and another rule for other religions. I would welcome clarification in that regard.

In terms of the three amendments I am proposing here, and which are listed, amendment No. 39 proposes to delete those particular lines that refer to what a school must do in its admission statement if section 7(3)(c) of the 2000 Act applies to it. I propose, and a later amendment refers to, deleting section 7(3)(c). If we were to do that it would make the section referred to by amendment No. 39 redundant.

The part of the Bill referred to in amendment No. 52 deals with admission policies. It sets down what a board can and cannot do when preparing an admission policy statement. Included in this part of the Bill is a provision to allow a school the right to refuse admission to a child who is not of the same denomination of that promoted by the school. This amendment would remove that right.

Amendment No. 138 mirrors the Private Members’ Bill which the Social Democrats introduced last year. It would provide for the non-application of section 7(3)(c) in respect of publicly funded schools. It would in effect end the baptism barrier completely. It would stop almost all schools, bar the small the number of private schools, from discriminating against children on the basis of religion in school enrolment policies.

It is simply wrong that children are turned away from their local school on the basis of their religious beliefs. Under the system the Minister is now proposing - while it is an improvement on the current regime - this will still be allowed to happen. Children’s rights should not be secondary to the rights of religious organisations. The amendment also favours the option most favoured by several civil society groups in last year’s public consultation. That is an important point to make. The amendment also mirrors wording that was used in the Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2015 in respect of publicly funded bodies which was passed unanimously without a vote by the Dáil, so it should be fully constitutional.

On that basis, while I recognise the progress the Minister has made, I believe that it is really important that we go further and eliminate all forms of discrimination, especially on religious grounds, against children in our State funded schools. There is no justification for that to continue. There are no grounds on which the Minister can say that it is acceptable. It is wrong and we need to move on it. There is a very strong sentiment within the country which has been growing over recent years. In recent times and recent months in particular our country has come of age to a large extent. People are facing up to the fact that they want to live in a republic, they want to be in a position to think things through for themselves, they want to have diversity and respect for diversity within our institutions and they want to move away from the past when the State and the Catholic Church were hand in hand in controlling our schools and hospitals. People now reject that approach. We are, or should be, a modern republic. We need to ensure that our institutions reflect that ethos of general respect and diversity within our country. Now is the time to take that step.

See this speech in context