Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will be very brief. I regret not being able to be part of the debate either last Wednesday or today because on both occasions I had to prioritise committees. It is one of the faults of the system to have these matters running concurrently.

This is interesting legislation. I have worked in schools as a teacher and a teacher educator and would not wish any teacher to feel discriminated against on the grounds of religion or ethos. I am deeply conscious that I have not heard the debate today as I was elsewhere, but it has been my experience as an educator that it is within the capacity of a board of management and a school to facilitate a teacher who does not wish to teach religion such that another teacher can take on that duty. I believe there is that capacity in the system. The Minister of State might respond to the point in her summation. Religion is not just about facts; it is about attitude and belief also. There is as much caught as is taught. I would welcome a response from the Minister of State in that regard. Our institutions, schools and colleges have the capacity to be able to have a teacher on the staff and at the same time to be able to facilitate that staff member such that someone else can take the class while he or she teaches another.