Results 20,341-20,360 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: If a child's provision is in a spectrum, then any child in that spectrum has to be admitted. The Minister defines the special unit. When a special unit is created it is created for a certain category of need. It is equipped to meet the needs of those children. It is staffed with people with the experience to deliver to those particular children. If it is a deaf unit, it will have...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: Deputy Joan Burton raises the wider issue of how children with special needs are admitted and what provision is made for them. Over 60% of children with special needs are accommodated in mainstream classes. In terms of policy, the NCSE advises on what is the most appropriate setting for them. As I said, almost two thirds of children with special needs are in mainstream classes which are...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: The motivation is-----

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: On a literal interpretation of the Act they would be given a right of access.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: The amendment seeks to amend the statement that a school in its admission policy must not discriminate on a particular set of grounds, including the disability of a student. Taken literally, this means that a school cannot discriminate based on the disability, or lack of, of a child presenting. The default position, if the amendment is not made, is that if a school has a special class...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Bill, if enacted, will provide that a school that is not oversubscribed cannot discriminate on religious grounds in order to refuse admission.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: It is on page 7, section 62(6)(c). It provides that a school shall enroll each student seeking admission to the school with certain exceptions.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: It is on page 7.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: Section 62(6)(c).

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: A school can only refuse where it is essential to maintain its ethos. It would have to establish it was essential to retain the ethos and it is not an option where a school just decides it does not want a child of a particular religion. Its only defence would be where it was essential to refuse to maintain the ethos, or if refuses to admit a student who is not of that denomination and, in...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: The point Deputy Thomas Byrne raised was whether there is a conflict between the admissions policy set out here and the other section. Until we amend and come back here with amendments to the equal status legislation, and I have indicated it is my intention to provide amendments, that equal status legislation exists and this Bill is just reflecting what it provides, namely, if a school...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: I do not rule out anything.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: The position, as we discussed earlier, is that we are not changing the Equal Status Act here. There is a desire by the committee to consider changes to the Equal Status Act and we indicated that we will revert to that issue. If we make changes to the Equal Status Act, there will have to be consequential changes to this Bill. I fully recognise that point. Some of these provisions, which...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: The same situation prevails, that we are not debating amendments here to the Equal Status Act. Whatever changes we make here do not change the Equal Status Act. Under the Equal Status Act, one has the right, if challenged, to go to the WRC and to prove that a refusal he or she has made is essential to maintain the ethos of the school. I understand that has not been tested and schools have...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: I move amendment No. 18:In page 6, line 21, to delete "school." and substitute "school,".

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: I move amendment No. 19:In page 6, between lines 21 and 22, to insert the following:"(c) a school that, with the approval of the Minister, provides an education exclusively for students with a specified category or categories of special educational needs, the admission statement of the school shall include a statement that the school may refuse to admit a student who does not have the...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: We will withdraw it, pending its reintroduction.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: As the Bill stands, Irish medium schools are not prohibited from prioritising children from Irish-speaking homes. An amendment which provides that such schools do not discriminate within the meaning of the Equal Status Act is not appropriate. There is no provision in that Act and any amendment that proposes to amend the definition of discrimination within that Act would have to be made...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: I understand what the Deputies are trying to do, it is just the complexity of how one would do this while still maintaining the cardinal principle of not judging the parents and making their fluency or academic ability the criteria. How do we balance that? That has to considered further.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: I move amendment No. 25:In page 6, line 28, to delete “Subject to this section, regulations under section 64,” and substitute “Subject to this Act, regulations under this Act”. This amendment extends the provision to which a school admissions policy is subject. The Bill currently provides that a school admissions policy is subject to section 62 of the Bill and...