Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 424: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she will address the main point of Parliamentary Question No. 219 of 16 November 2006 which dealt with the matter of a new requirement to prove the address of pupils seeking enrolment; and if the parents right to send their children to the school of their choice had been removed. [39980/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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As previously stated in my response to the Deputy, enrolment in individual schools is the responsibility of the managerial authority of those schools and my Department does not seek to intervene in decisions made by schools in such matters. My Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking places. This may result, however, in some pupils not obtaining a place in the school of their first choice.

It is the responsibility of the managerial authorities of schools that are not in a position to admit all pupils seeking entry to implement an enrolment policy in accordance with the Education Act. In this regard a board of management may find it necessary to restrict enrolment to children from a particular area or a particular age group or, occasionally, on the basis of some other criterion. My Department has no involvement in the criteria which individual schools choose to include in their enrolment policies. However, in formulating an admissions policy, a school must ensure it is lawful. In particular, it must act in accordance with section 7 of the Equal Status Act 2000.

Where a Board of Management refuses to enrol a student in a school, the parent of the student or, where the student has reached 18 years of age, the student himself or herself, following the conclusion of any appeal procedures at school level, has a statutory entitlement under section 29 of the Education Act to appeal that decision to my Department. A committee is established to hear the appeal with hearings conducted with a minimum of formality. In most cases appeals must be dealt with within 30 days. Where appropriate, my Department may give whatever directions to the Board of Management that are considered necessary to remedy the matter complained of.