Averil Power (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not wish to overly prolong the debate as it is clear the Minister of State is not going to move on this issue. The Constitution contains competing personal rights to protect the individual such as the right to earn a livelihood, the right to equality and others, which have to be balanced against the right to religious freedom. One right does not necessarily trump all others and all of these issues can be argued.

The Minister of State mentioned other countries which have their own form of section 37 and where religious institutions only run a small number of schools. In these countries there is no disproportionate impact on a teacher's right to earn a livelihood because if a teacher does not share the faith system of a particular school, he or she can opt to work somewhere else. There are plenty of public sector jobs where this can be done and only a minority of teachers opt to work in religious schools. Here, it is the opposite. Because of the level of respect afforded to freedom of religion, a teacher's right to earn a livelihood is, in some parts of the country, essentially rendered at nil. There is, thankfully, an increasing number of Educate Together schools, but there are many areas of the country in which all schools are under religious patronage. I do not think the balance is correct, although I accept that the Constitution requires a balancing act.

I understand from where the Minister of State is coming on a personal level but think he has been badly advised. I again ask him to re-examine this issue before the Bill is brought before the Dáil. We have an opportunity to deal with the issue here. The programme for Government did not just give a commitment to seek better diversity in schools, it also gave a very clear commitment that nobody would be prevented from taking up employment because of his or her religious beliefs. That issue is not being dealt with. I appreciate that the Minister of State has been told that it cannot be dealt with but my advice is that it can. I particularly acknowledge the work of Dr. Fergus Ryan who is in the Visitors Gallery. He is an expert in this area and drafted my Bill back in 2012. He has been meticulous in drafting amendments on this issue for the past three years, including the Report Stage amendments. He has put a huge amount of work into researching this issue, from an Irish perspective and the perspective of the relevant EU laws. He advises me that this is possible.

I understand from the Minister of State's reply that he is not going to accept the amendment, a decision which is unfortunate and unnecessary. I will be pushing the amendment to a vote. I ask the Minister of State to review and obtain more advice on the issues involved.