Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I was planning on going on some wanderings but I will not do that now.

What we are talking about today, if we cut out the substance of what I was going to say, is power, privilege and the manner in which they replicate. This happens not only in the Irish education system but in Irish society as a whole.

Education in Ireland is defined by many characteristics. It is full of decent people, including principals, special needs assistants and teachers. Many of our schools have become places of sanctuary for students. These places are not only about educating them. They are places where students go to get fed and where they find a place of comfort and people to whom they can speak. That is very much part of our education system.

Yet at the heart and foundation of our education system, we find the manner in which power and privilege replicate. This happens in a manner that is stark. Every year we see it in our institutions and universities. We see that the people who get to go to the most elite universities are predominantly from the schools that are fee paying and that have elitism factored into them. We cannot deny that. I cannot get a parliamentary question answered on it. Yet if I pick up the Irish Timesfeeder school list, I will see it spelled out clearly in the list. The people who get access to the best courses come from the best schools.

We have a situation in Ireland where we have a pupil-teacher ratio of 26:1. I hope this will reduce to 25:1 in accordance with the budget but that will only happen in some schools. It does not happen in all schools. It happens in schools that are national or State schools. However, there are other schools where that would not even be considered. They have far lower pupil-teacher ratios. That gives people greater access to teaching times, supports and all that comes with it.

Then we see the starker manner in which power and privilege replicate. They are protected by a law that has been enshrined since 2018. Some 25% of school places have to be reserved. Their allocation depends upon whether a parent or grandparent went to the school. It is nonsensical and it lacks any sense of justice. The issue of access lacks any sort of basic justice and common decency and there is no reason this should be protected in our law. If we went back to 2018 to look at the groups advocating and lobbying for that Bill, we would not find Pavee Point, the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland, National Women's Council or SPARK, which advocates on behalf of one-parent families. We would not find any of those institutions that try to protect and enhance the rights of people. Instead, we would find other institutions. I have no wish to cast aspersions on their characters but they are often places where people pay money to replicate privilege. That is what we enshrined in law in 2018.

This Bill was brought forward by my colleague, Deputy Ó Ríordáin, from the Labour Party. It is succinct and short and seeks to address that. In 2020 in the Irish Republic is there any reason we cannot simply accept the fact that this is a good Bill? It is based on decency. It is not going to have major ramifications for the society we live in other than simply making it a little fairer. If that is not what this Chamber is about, then I am unsure what else we are trying to do here.

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