Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I begin by mentioning that there are 92 patients on trolleys in University Hospital Limerick. This is a new national record. I will not repeat all the points I made last week again but ask for an urgent debate as conditions continue to worsen weekly.

I raise the issue of school patronage. It will not surprise the Leader to know that I have a different take on it to the conservative stance taken by my colleague, Senator Horkan, from Fianna Fáil. St. Sylvester's infant school in Malahide has become the third Catholic school in north Dublin to write to parents, warning them not to vote to change from a Catholic school to a secular school. These letters, which were ordered by the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, contain a number of unsubstantiated claims, such as: stating that the standard of education will drop; teachers' contracts will be under threat; there will no longer be school uniforms; children's safety will be compromised on school tours; and grandparents will no longer be allowed to be celebrated. It is utter nonsense. These letters represent nothing more than scaremongering tactics by a powerful vested interest.

The Department of Education and Skills should demand an explanation from each of the three schools and from the archdiocese. It is unacceptable that such an important consultation process is being manipulated and influenced by a body with a powerful ideology. The reality is that in north Dublin, 97% of school places are in schools with a religious ethos. The Department has discovered through consultation that there is demand in the area to divest patronage and move to a secular model. We must work towards ending the patronage system completely. It is time that the State finally took responsibility for running and delivering an education system for all of its citizens through a secular medium, rather than simply outsourcing its responsibility to private patronage bodies. As a republican, I believe in the separation of church and State. It is fundamentally wrong to separate children at the age of five on the basis of religion.