Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I really hope I get support across the House for my amendment when I resubmit it. I appreciate that previously a school could have had 100% of its students under this criteria. We are trying to change things and introduce legislation that will make things fairer. It is at the behest of a particular lobby group that this 25% cap is being applied. The Minister is right that Ruairí Quinn had a similar viewpoint to himself. Deputy Jan O'Sullivan had a different viewpoint. I hold fast to the view that children should try to access their local school on the same basis. The idea that a child's father or grandfather or mother or grandmother - let us be honest, though, that it is the boys' school tie network we are really talking about - has no place when we are trying to change things.

There is genuinely a lot of good work in this Bill that we want to support. I do not really want to be nitpicking over this issue but it is wrong and elitist and should not be there. I think the Minister probably agrees with me in his own gut. We have a very vocal, powerful and well resourced lobby group that is well able to kick up a terrible amount of stink with local Deputies. It seems it is just not worth the political system's while taking them on. I would ask those in the Chamber who like to call themselves republicans whether they truly believe that a child whose father or grandfather went to particular school has more of a right to attend that school than somebody whose father or grandfather did not, even if the two children live right beside each other.