Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

There is a particular inheritance there that many people value, even if they are not believers themselves or if they are not sure where they are on the plane of faith. It is wrong to suggest there is some kind of mass hypocrisy going on. What is going on is that parents must in some way exercise their right to seek an education for their children and they must not be required simply to obey and only pick from the State's chosen menu. There are balances which must be struck. None of us would support education which would promote the subjugation of women or which would endorse violence. These are real issues in the western world when we think of militant Islam.To pretend that the State is some kind of a protector of civilised values at a time when children's right to life is not guaranteed in the western world and there is massive intolerance, when even Ministers struggle in their use of social media to maintain a level of civility that would be appropriate to democratic debate and to suggest the State should decide everything is a very dangerous thing to do.