Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I add my voice to the calls to pause this process. Major decisions should not be made without the consent of school communities, including parents, teachers and students. Not only is there no consent in this case, there is, in fact, strong and active opposition, as was seen with the march of more than 300 people from the school yard of St. Vincent's Secondary School to Cork city centre last Saturday.

To be clear, I am a supporter of mixed education. I believe that for school to be a proper preparation for life, it should be in a mixed setting. I am also opposed to church control of education and this is as clear an example as one could wish to find of how church control and democracy are in opposition to each other. It is clear to me that opposition to this proposal is only going to grow. The Minister must, at the very least, pause the process and think again.

See this speech in context