Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats)

I thank everybody who participated in today's debate. More importantly, I thank all those parents, educators and campaigners across the country who continue to fight not for privilege but for parity and not for special treatment but for choice. This has been going on for 50 years. I have been a campaigner for multidenominational schools since 2007. As a family of a minority religion as well as strong believers in that religion as a private matter, we needed a school where we would be welcome. Griffith Barracks Multi-Denominational School was that school. I became involved with the patron of that school and the board of management of the school and then I became a director of the board of directors of Educate Together. I served as chair of that board of directors for five years. In the course of that time, we opened up 40 new multidenominational schools. We saw the 40th anniversary of Educate Together. We also saw schools through the Covid-19 pandemic. As an employee of City of Dublin ETB, I saw first-hand the establishment of community national schools and I have worked with many schools that are multidenominational and religious patrons throughout this country.

Yesterday in the audiovisual room we heard from a parent who went to a multidenominational school 30 years ago. Now she has twins and unfortunately does not have a school place that represents her family. She is still fighting. Her parents fought, she is fighting, and we are all continuing to fight.

In my constituency, in Dublin 8, the Educate D8 campaign is fighting tirelessly to ensure that they have a multidenominational school in their area. We brought forward this motion because the current system is dominated by religious patronage and no longer reflects the reality of the Ireland we live in today. It is a diverse and modern Republic, yet over 94.5% of our primary schools are under religious control. It is not balanced, not inclusive and not a choice.

Our motion is not an attack on denominational schools at all, and I want to make that very clear. It is about providing choice, and that includes if you want to send your child to a multidenominational, nondenominational, interdenominational or denominational school. That is okay by our motion.

The Government's amendment gestures towards progress. It recites statistics, restates old commitments and assures us that things are moving, but it also avoids a central truth that everyone in this Chamber knows: change is happening far too slowly and families across Ireland are being left behind. Despite all the carefully worded acknowledgments in the amendment, families are still struggling to access schools that reflect their beliefs, communities that want change are still being left in the dark and year after year the Government promises more diversity but delivers more delay.

We welcome that there are now going to be two surveys. We are a little bit concerned, however, that there is just constant talk of surveys but the surveys have not gone out. They were meant to go out in September 2024. It was the same in January 2025. The school year is nearly over. Ask any school principal and they will tell us the year is going to fly by and they have a load of work to do. Surveys need to happen immediately or it will not be possible to collect the data. This Dáil term will be over by the time the data is collected and put into effect.

We heard a lot today about choice and diversity but we cannot achieve either as long as we cling to a model that puts religious patrons in charge of our children's schools and does not give choice to every parent. We welcome and acknowledge that denominational schools have served communities. We know this. There is a very strong history of denominational schools being excellent for the children in those schools but there are still children sitting in classrooms who are being excluded every day. Parents are being forced to send their children to schools that do not reflect their values. Teachers are still being asked about their religion in job interviews, to teach things they are not comfortable with and to do a certificate at university so they can teach in a State-funded school.

This motion does not ask for anything extreme. It simply calls for a real and deliverable target of 400 multidenominational schools by 2030 and for any new school being opened to be a multidenominational school. There are already quite a number of denominational schools, as we and several other Deputies outlined. It also calls for faith formation to happen outside core school hours and respects all beliefs. There should be an end to religious discrimination in hiring so that merit and not belief determines who teaches our children. There should be a transparent and community-led mechanism for school reconfiguration and not one controlled by the very patrons who benefit from thestatus quo. There should be a citizens' assembly on the future of education because a system-wide reform must belong to the people.

These are reasonable requests and reflect what parents want across the country. People supporting this motion will see if the Government does support it. I know it has an amendment submitted. I echo what Deputy Farrelly has said in urging the Government to withdraw the amendment. Not removing the amendment will demonstrate that the Government is not accepting our motion. We are trying to reflect what the parents around the country are asking us for. They are asking for more spaces in schools and for more choice. We are saying that we hear and believe them and we are with them. Voting against the motion will dilute the proposals. There will then be excuses. We do not accept that and we do not believe the public will either. It is time to stop managing expectations and to start meeting them. Let us build an education system that reflects who we really are and aspire to be.

We are asking the Government to withdraw its amendment and support our motion so genuine choice for parents in their child's education is truly acceptable. We have a wonderful education system but it can be better. I have said this so many times on the floor of this House. We really have high-quality education. We have excellent schools and excellent teachers, SNAs and people working in them, but we need more choice so that people do not feel excluded. No child in 2025 should be sitting at the back of the classroom excluded. No child should feel they are not part of their school community because they have different beliefs. In a multidenominational school, everybody is equal, everybody is treated with respect and all beliefs and none are respected. This is simply what we are asking for. Go raibh maith agat.

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