Neale Richmond (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and thank him for laying out this Bill, which is welcome, overdue and progressive. I would like to focus on one section of the Bill. Much of what I will say will be in contrast to what the previous speaker said. It is important to put things in the context of where we are before we speak about where we want to get to. I recognise that the role of religious institutions in our schools is completely oversubscribed and over-reliant. At a time in our history when the State was unable to fulfil its obligations in many areas, including education, we relied on the various churches to fill the gap. It would be disingenuous and perhaps ill-thought-out to remove them in one fell sweep. It is a fact that 89% of national schools in the State are under the patronage of the Roman Catholic Church. Another 6% are under the patronage of some other single religion, such as the Church of Ireland. There are 23 Presbyterian schools, one Methodist school, one Jewish school and two Muslim schools. Another 5% of schools are run on a multidenominational, Educate Together or secular basis, which is entirely positive. I think we need to see more of those schools.

I welcome the proposal in the legislation before the House to remove the barrier from 89% of national schools. It is important that we are seeking to increase the level of choice for parents in providing national school education to their children or to children for whom they are acting as guardians. Where does choice begin? As I said, 89% of schools are under the ethos of the Roman Catholic Church. We have a responsibility to respect choice, minority faith and parents who want their children to receive minority faith education. Ultimately, when 89% of schools are under the ethos of a particular church, choice is not provided. We will not remove the basis until we start to look at the patronage as well.

The divestment of our schools from the Roman Catholic Church, in particular, is not covered in this Bill. We need to see accelerated progress in this wider area. We need to see more schools come into the secular fold, the non-religious fold or the multidenominational fold. Throughout my time as a public representative, I have championed the development of three new Educate Together schools - two national schools and one secondary school - in my area. I was delighted, after much campaigning, to receive the details of where the secondary school's permanent location will be. I was at the first meeting in 2010. The Minister has announced approximately 40 new schools in recent months. Regardless of the consultations and the surveys, I think there is merit in prescribing, if feasible, that these new schools will not have any religious ethos or alternatively will be multidenominational, secular or Educate Together schools. I think that is where we will achieve real progress.

The Bill before the House is welcome as part of the overall modernisation and progression of our national school system. I believe that if we rush from A to B without acknowledging where exactly we are, this legislation will be ill-thought-out. Therefore, it is wholly appropriate that exceptions are being made for minority faith schools in order to protect rich communities that have given so much to this State historically. Ultimately, they cannot be mistakenly overwashed by this well-meaning overall initiative. I commend the Minister, the Department and the officials on their work in this regard. I look forward to this Bill going through all Stages swiftly and being enacted in due course.