Kevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I second the amendment. Senator Ó Ríordáin covered most of the points. Often people say politicians vote in this House in self-interest. Dublin Bay South probably has the biggest concentration of people who have attended private schools but this provision is wrong. I might be shooting myself in the foot in supporting the amendment but if we believe in equality and want people to be able to break through the glass ceiling, we cannot put this into legislation. It is utterly wrong. We can speak of diversity and equality of opportunity but we are saying to children that they will not have the same equality of rights as others. If a person's grandfather went to the right school, that person can go to that school as well. In some cases a child might live across the road, looking at its gates, but be excluded because somebody else had the right grandfather and has the right amount of money in a bank account. I am totally disgusted by this. It is wrong. As Fianna Fáil calls itself a republican party seeking equality of opportunity in education, it must support this amendment. Otherwise, shame on it. This is not a party political issue. Members should think of what they would say to children currently going through the education system and who cannot attend a school because their grandfather did not go to the right school. If their father or mother did not go to the right school, they cannot go there either. It does not matter how others did in school, they can get in the door with the right connections. I ask the Minister to accept the amendment.