Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Let me make one last point. The separation of children, as the Minister of State described, is not to treat children with any lack of respect or inequality per se. There may be cases, and Northern Ireland comes to mind, where the denominational distinctions in schools could be argued to have contributed to the problem, on which subject one would have a very lively debate, but there can be social circumstances in which one could argue that one needs to bring children from different backgrounds together. I think we all understand that in the context of provision for people of different racial backgrounds and so on. Schools under religious patronage in Ireland have a very good record of promoting that kind of diversity and of respecting it. I have visited these schools and I have been in them but it should not be assumed or implied that it is wrong to have any kind of distinctions in schools according to denominational background or allow preference to be given to people from a particular background in certain circumstances. There is always a balance to be struck. We should be generous in our assumption and assume that if one is dealing with a Protestant school, that is a Protestant school following a Christian ethos, to take the example of Christianity,that teaches and insists on respect for the other, which is core to Christianity. We should not assume that separation is bad automatically. It is how it is done and sometimes it should not be done because of compelling social or political circumstances that might point to the need for greater levels of integration. We should give more credit to the good intentions of educators and to the quality of their work and acknowledge more forcefully and more audibly that people who teach according to a denominational school or Gaelscoil tradition, which operate through a particular appreciation of the Irish language, are also capable of inculcating the exact same level of respect for other people as, for example, an Educate Together or a vocational school.