Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I listened to Deputy Paul Murphy who talked about the gentleman who was a Hindu and who had been asked to have his child baptised. There are such cases which are wrong, but the biggest issue is overcrowding which we are trying to address in the context of baptisms. Schools are in a dreadful position where there is overcrowding and are looking at the criteria. Feeder schools and non-feeder schools have different criteria. Is that wrong? Is it wrong for feeder schools to pick one or another thing? In this country we fail, as do the Government and the Minister, to acknowledge properly the role the religious have played in schools. We fail to stand up and are afraid to do so. It is wrong of us not to do so because they have done some incredible work during the years. I know of one school in west Cork that wanted to build an extension, for which the Department gave 50%, 60% or 70% of the funding. The rest had to be raised in the local community. The board of management could not raise it, nor could the parents' association. The local church took out a loan for the school. Except for it, the extension would never have been built. People fail to recognise this. If the churches are removed, who will take over responsibility for taking out loans for schools? I know the school first-hand and can talk about it. It is attended by Latvians, Lithuanians, English children, Poles, Germans, Dutch children, Catholics and Church of Ireland children and atheists and everybody works fine together. I cannot understand it. One would swear they were all at war. When I come into the Dáil Chamber, on a regular basis I ask what is happening in other parts of the country. They must all be involved in a fierce conflict. They should come and spend time in west Cork which Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett probably knows fairly well. They would see that there was harmony, that people were getting on fine and that there was no major hassle with reference to what is continuously discussed here. People are pleading to have issues such as capitation resolved, as well as teachers' pay.

I would appreciate it if we could look at both sides of the argument here. The churches have parish halls. I have gone to different parish halls, Church of Ireland or otherwise, and nobody has ever asked me at the entrance what my religion or creed is. Therefore, I do not understand what all the fuss is about.

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