Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I also pay tribute to all those involved in the passage of this legislation. In fact, my only complaint, to which the Minister did allude, is that it has taken so long to get it through. It has been knocking around for years. It is one year since the leader of my party offered it as one of five Bills that could be progressed quickly. I think we have got two of them through. Both were in the area of education, the Technological Universities Act and this Bill. I do not think either the Dáil or the Seanad can be faulted for the fact that it has taken a long time to get the Bill through. I do not know the reason it has taken so long. In fairness to the Minister, he has achieved consensus on the Bill and taken ideas from the Opposition such as the provision dealing with special classes.

He has also taken on board ideas on the Gaelscoileanna. A genuinely collaborative effort has been adopted to pass the best possible legislation.

I welcome all the Bill's provisions. I have spoken to people involved in Catholic schools, and it is clearly the case that those schools have no fear of this Bill. In fact, quite a few schools had moved away from a baptism barrier in recent years. The barrier was operating, but quite a few schools operating it had made it clear that a different approach was desired. Those schools will not now be able to operate a barrier, which is good news in some of the areas affected.

While it is great to pass legislation, the unrelenting focus must be on resources for our schools. Wee have to ensure they have the time, wherewithal and money to put some of the Bill's provision into practice. It involves drawing up a policy in each school, which is not expensive but which adds to the administrative hassle in schools. We must be conscious of that; I am always slow to legislate because of that consideration. The target of 400 new multi-denominational schools set by the Minister must be massively ramped up. It is one thing to remove the baptism barrier, but it must be remembered that people are entitled to education in an ethos other than Catholicism. One way of doing that is by honouring that commitment, which has been happening very slowly so far. It has to happen.

I again pay tribute to Mr. Graham Manning, who brought the issue of special classes to the fore. We were all aware of it, but he brought it to our attention, and an opportunity to bring in a legislative provision to deal with the issue was spotted in this Bill. Mr. Manning is an ordinary citizen who brought his concerns to his local representatives in Cork, who then forwarded them to the education spokespersons of the various parties in Dáil Éireann. He has managed to get the law changed. We took the issue up as a priority and told the Minister that we would not facilitate the Bill without it, even though there was reluctance at some levels within his Department to include this measure. In fairness to the Minister, he accepted it and worked collaboratively with us on that.

We do not want any delay on the commencement of the sections, which has become a feature of legislation in the past year or so. We will insist on that, and I do not believe the Minister will have any difficulty with that approach. We have worked well on this. It is a signal moment in Irish education, and represents a big change. Indeed, it will probably signal further change in terms of the ethos of schools in Ireland. There are other debates to be had, but I want the main focus to be on resources and on making sure that our schools are able to educate our students without being tied up in knots, rules and regulations.

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