Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate very much Deputy Ó Laoghaire's accommodation. I appreciate very much the opportunity to propose this Private Members' Bill. It is good that Opposition Members get an opportunity to bring forward legislation on this matter and to engage with the Minister on this basis.

The Labour Party feels very strongly about this Bill. We feel very strongly about education and equality. When one campaigns for equality one is not campaigning because one thinks it is fashionable. One campaigns for equality because one believes in one's Republic. The word, "Republic" is tossed around a lot. People call themselves republicans all over the world. A republic does not mean the absence of a monarchy. A republic means that every child has the same opportunities regardless of who they are or where they are from. Everybody knows that in the past 100 years of this Republic, we have not lived up to that. That does not mean we should not try.

There is no greater thief in Irish society of the Republic than poverty and disadvantage. Poverty steals childhoods. It steals dreams. It steals aspirations. It steals futures. The great liberator from that theft is education. People will ask us and other political parties here why we felt so strongly about school profiling when the leaving certificate controversy was happening. The Minister, in fairness to her, moved on the issue of school profiling because what was in essence at stake was the beautiful anonymity that a young person had of walking into a hall with a student number and nobody knew who they were, the accent they used, their address or who their parents, or grandparents, were.

There is a sense sometimes in Irish society, which may be more powerful than people in this Chamber are willing to admit, of the old school tie. I refer to the question, "What school did you go to?" and the identity, the power and the influence that comes with that. It identifies one as somebody. In some circumstances, that identification lasts for life. For others, it is not that important but how can a school admissions policy be fair to a child whose parents did not go to secondary school - I know people think that is something that happened in the past but it is not true - or somebody whose parents did not go to a secondary school in the locality or in the country when, in an over-subscribed scenario where a school has to choose between that child and another, that the school the child's parents, or even grandparents, went to will come into consideration?

Every time we talk about educational disadvantage or reforming education or look around the world for better standards of education or changing things in Irish education in terms of literacy, equality or standards, we always look to Finland. The difference with Finland is not just about the money they put into education or the resources available to them. It is that they fundamentally believe that equality should underpin their system.

Nobody separates children like the Irish do. We are obsessed with it. We have 4,000 schools in a country the size of the population of Manchester. We separate them by religion, by gender, completely disproportionately in the European context, and by income in certain circumstances. This section of this Act means we can separate on the basis of parents and grandparents. That does violence to the idea of a republic.

I appreciate the Minister's words but it is not good enough to say that there is no evidence that anybody has used this section of the Act and that we do not know if anybody is doing it. If that is the case, why is it in the Act? It is in the Act because of the lobbying of a certain section of the education system. We know this to be true. There are certain vested interests in Irish education, particularly at second level, who want this section in the Act because they want to keep the royal bloodline of succession within their schools. They want to be able to count on the income of the parents, and the grandparents, of past pupils for fundraising. It is as stark as that. They want to keep the identity of their school in Irish society. It is the reportedly old school boy phenomenon, although it is a old school girl phenomenon as well. "What school did you go to? My father went there. My grandfather went there".

If a child's father, mother or grandparents did not go to second level, why should they be at a disadvantage? The system should almost turn itself over to facilitate somebody whose parents or grandparents did not go to second level. Surely a child whose parents are from outside the area, or the country, should be at the top of our priority list in terms of cherishing and lifting that child because that girl or boy lives in a republic. A republic means it does not matter who their parents or grandparents are.

There are many issues we will talk about in these Chambers when it comes to education. There are many issues on which we will agree and disagree. There are many issues we will try to promote. We will have many justifiable arguments but surely, some of the basic things we should agree in this Chamber is that we live in a Republic and we stand by that Republic. It is not just a word. It is an ethos. It is an ethic, and it goes through everything we do. Any section or subsection of any legislative measure that comes into this House should have the litmus test of standing by that Republic.

I know almost exactly what my colleagues are going to say. I know exactly what the Social Democrats and Sinn Féin are going to say. They are going to agree with this Bill. I appreciate the Minister is not coming in here to advocate for it to be voted down in its entirety but I submit to her that it would be in the proper republican tradition of her party, and of this House, for her to re-engage with her Cabinet colleagues to assess again the ethic behind the Bill and what we are trying to achieve and to realise that when it comes to trying to give children equal access it should appal us that there would ever be a legal right for any school to say to one parent over another, "I'm terribly sorry but this parent, and his father, attended this school and on that basis we can turn your child away". They should not have a legal right to do that. The Education (Admission to Schools) Act allows them to do that. The section of that Act should be deleted. The Minister probably agrees with me.

Between now and Wednesday next, when we have the vote, it would be best if we all agreed the section needs to go and if we did not hide behind reviews, as the Minister is suggesting. The word "republic" is oft used and oft abused but it is something that is special and sacred and that we should stand by.

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