Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. He is becoming a regular visitor.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I will get a long service award.

Lynn Ruane (Independent)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach and Minister. I would like to raise the issue of what has become known as the "baptism barrier" and the religious-based discrimination currently practised in admissions policies in State-funded schools in this country. As Ireland continues to become a more secular and pluralist nation, it is vitally important that the State acknowledges and vindicates the fundamental equality of every child, irrespective of race, socio-economic status and, in this case, religion. Equality cannot be fully realised while we allow State schools to discriminate in their admissions policies based on religious denomination. Therefore, the baptism barrier needs to go.

The Minister is aware of this issue and is keen to see reform. I would like to acknowledge his announcement earlier this year of the ending of this discriminatory practice. My key ask today is, therefore, that this issue be dealt with by way of an amendment to the Education (Admission to School) Bill, which is on Fourth Stage in Dáil Éireann.

As the Minister will be aware, the Joint Committee on Education and Skills, of which I am a member, recently conducted stakeholder engagement and scrutiny on the Bill. Our report was published in June and one of our recommendations was that it is imperative that the relevant legislation is, the very least, amended so that no child is denied admission to a State-funded school on the basis of his or her religion or beliefs. The relevant legislation is section 7(3)(c) of the Equal Status Act 2000.

This is not provided for in the Bill as currently drafted. Can the Minister indicate today whether he is considering amending the Bill to reflect the recommendations of the committee? I would also like clarification on the three limited circumstances cited by the Minister as to when a school can use religion as a criteria for admission. The Minister stated that these circumstances were in order to protect minority faith schools and we would need to see the detail so that we can ensure there are no unintended consequences.

It does not make sense to me that we would pass a major admissions policy reform Bill when it does not comprehensively address what I believe is the most fundamental equality issue in national school admissions today. The Minister has previously stated that this issue could perhaps be dealt with by a separate piece of legislation. However, this approach should be reconsidered.

The creation of a new bespoke piece of legislation could take years, whereas the 2016 admissions Bill could become law by Christmas. I understand there is concern that constitutional issues could be at play, but Equate Ireland commissioned legal advice in this respect and if the Minister has not seen it I would be happy to share it with him.

Ultimately, the baptism barrier has no place in a modern and pluralist education system. In a recent poll 84% of Irish people called for an end to religious-based school exclusion. We have a responsibility to move quickly and decisively to end it. Let us commit to ending discrimination before the next academic year.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising this issue. It gives me a chance to update the position. The Senators is correct, in that the admissions Bill I introduced to the House dealt with a number of issues around which there was a fair degree of consensus.

There remains a desire to put positive changes in place quickly. The Bill deals with banning discrimination and waiting lists, requiring written admissions policies and empowering the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, and Tusla to require a school to take a child with special needs. There are positive things in the Bill.

There was a broad belief that we need to address the issue of admissions policies in respect of the use of religion in schools. While proceeding with the Bill I established a consultation process and outline for four different options. The consultation process took place earlier this year, at the end of March. There were many submissions and there was no consensus. No one approach of those outlined had a consensus approach.

As I indicated on Committee Stage in the Dáil, the way to deal with this was to remove religion as a general criterion in admissions policies and, as the Senator said, provide three exceptions. The exceptions were outlined at the time and largely concerned allowing schools to protect their ethos if it was threatened and allowing children of minority religions to get into a school of their choice. This is based on the idea that it is right and welcome that people should have the desire to bring up children in their faith if they want to.

In our Constitution we endow schools with the right to have religions to run schools and, therefore, we should try to facilitate that to the best extent possible.It is wrong that children cannot get access to a local school, and preference is given on religious grounds to children living a considerable distance away. It is also wrong that people should feel obliged to have their children baptised to gain admission to a school.

The position in terms of the approach I outlined is that I have been dealing with the Attorney General to develop those proposals and to ensure that I am in a position to come to the House with legally and constitutionally robust proposals. As the Senator knows, there can be a lot of legal opinions, but ultimately the Government must be guided by the Attorney General who is the legal adviser to the Government. That work is ongoing, but at this stage I believe that it may be possible to introduce this by way of an amendment to the existing Education (Admission to Schools) Bill rather than requiring a separate Bill. Obviously, I do not want to make a commitment that is irrevocable because clearly that depends on the proposal we have made being found to be robust. I am working with the Attorney General and will revert to the Houses as soon as I am in a position to do so.

It is timely that we deal with this issue. If we take the route that I have set out, effectively religion would not be used in 95% of the schools that are in place. As the Senator knows, 80% of schools do not now use religion, and that will become law under the Education (Admission to Schools) Bill. It will no longer be legal, where a school is not oversubscribed, to exclude a child on the basis of religion. That will be outlawed. What we are now doing for the remaining 20% is providing that religion would not be used as a bar but for two exceptions, namely, to protect minority churches and to ensure that the ethos of the school would not be threatened. That is already provided for under equal status legislation.

I hope that I will be in a position to come back to the House in due course with a set of proposals.

Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for his very optimistic response.

Lynn Ruane (Independent)
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I welcome the Minister's response and thank him for it. Before the relevant legislation comes before the Seanad, it would make sense either to meet the Minister or be given some notice beforehand. I do not want to waste my time coming up with amendments, given that the legislation will be based on the advice of the Attorney General and on the consultation process. I would welcome an update on it before it comes to the Seanad.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Legally, my understanding is that I have to go back through Report Stage in the Dáil, but I will publish our proposals at that stage and give the Senator an opportunity to examine them before they come before this House formally.