Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the opportunity to contribute. I was at a meeting of the finance committee so I was not able to be present for the whole debate. I want to touch on one aspect, that of admissions. I represented Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, many of whose schools are quite oversubscribed. I am on my fifth term on the board of management of a secondary school. I have been on the boards of two different secondary schools over five terms. This is my third term as chairman. Therefore, I have a fair understanding of the issues concerning admissions policies. The difficulty is that if 270 people are applying for 90 places, 180 families, including parents and children, will be discommoded. No matter how we change baptism barriers or other barriers, it will be a question of supply. It is a bit like the housing problem in that we need supply. We want people who want their children to be educated in a faith-based school to have access to one. Equally, we want people who do not want a faith-based ethos or who want a multidenominational or nondenominational ethos, to be allowed that.

I ask the Minister to take account of the issues in south Dublin. I have never seen a school that was not full that refused anybody because he or she was not baptised. They let pupils live. The Government is moving deckchairs on the Titanic; it needs to increase the supply based on the relevant needs of the area and provide extra schools. That allows those who want their children to have a faith-based education to have it and, equally, it gives those who do not want their children in a faith-based system to have this choice. I thank the Minister for tackling the issue.