Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that the Leader has facilitated the debate. It is a timely one.

My second point is on multidenominational education. There was a Commencement debate yesterday on the five schools across the State that have limited enrolment, the Educate Together schools. There is an ongoing issue concerning the relationship between the State and schools that are selling off lands. With Councillor Deirdre Kingston, I met a group yesterday that is very concerned about the issue in Clonkeen. We are concerned about the lack of movement on Educate Together second level schools and on the baptism barrier. There is a considerable debate that needs to be had in this Chamber with the Minister on the relationship between the State and patron bodies and on the facts that patron bodies are selling off lands under the noses of boards of management, that boards of management are now being threatened with abolition, that primary schools that do not have religious patronage are now being told they can have only a certain number of students in September, and that Educate Together skills at second level are not getting support from the Department.