Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Independent)

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Cathaoirleach Gníomhach. I agree with a lot of what the Social Democrats are trying to do. We do need to recognise the diversity we have and possibly take religion out of schools. It is an issue for parents to decide. Religious instruction being done outside school time makes a lot of sense. What we have in Ireland, however, is an Irish solution to an Irish problem where all the new schools - or most of them, 50 or 51 - are multidenominational.

The Cathaoirleach Gníomhach has given me an extra half a minute. If we held the referendum tomorrow, and remember the Catholic Church owns most of the schools in the State, I would hazard a guess that for noble reasons and for less noble reasons people would vote against taking religion out of schools, but we should have that discussion and we should put it up to the people. We do not want to end up like Australia with elite Catholic schools.

The minority religions in this country do feel very strongly about having their ethos and the way they are tied up in the community. I do take on board some comments about how schools and churches are very much linked but in urban areas I definitely think that the closest school is always the best school for the child, irrespective of ideology. Maybe we should be taking religion out but let us have a wider and proper discussion on it and put it to the people, maybe through a citizens' convention.

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