Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 332: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if he will provide the results of the enrolment audit of schools carried out by his Department, broken down by school; if he will provide his Department's analysis of this data; the way he will guarantee fairness in future enrolment procedures of schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34453/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The main findings of the audit of school enrolment policies have been made publicly available on my Department's website. The findings are published in a format that does not allow individual schools to be identified while enabling the overall pattern of practice to be assessed. Naming schools may have a perverse impact, whereby schools that are living up to their responsibilities to the full community may become 'labelled' on the basis of their willingness to accommodate pupils of all backgrounds. On the other hand, schools that are avoiding their responsibilities may be seen as more attractive to some parents.

At a general level, the audit finds no evidence of problematic enrolment practice on a system-wide scale. However, in assessing enrolment practice on the basis of local school clusters, it identifies pockets of inconsistent activity which would indicate that certain schools may be assuming disproportionate shares of responsibility for enrolling children of all backgrounds and needs from within their local community. The issues are more pronounced at second-level than at primary level (where disparities can be largely accounted for by localised factors). Further to the audit, the education partners were invited to submit their views on desirable changes to existing practices. This included possible arrangements to address issues that arise at a local level in relation to enrolment practice and potential regulatory measures to address discriminatory school written enrolment policy provisions. I am now reflecting on these submissions and will consider bringing forward relevant policy proposals.