Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to change school enrolment practice; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17538/13]

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans regarding school enrolment procedures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17553/13]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide a timeframe for when he intends to publish legislation to amend the Education Welfare Act to ensure fairer school enrolment policies; and if he will provide details on the way in which he plans to guarantee a more equitable admission policy top schools. [17574/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 35, 40 and 49 together.

As the Deputies will be aware, I announced at the recent Teacher Union Conferences that I will shortly bring to Government draft heads of a bill – the Education (Admission to School) Bill 2013. I will seek to publish the Bill in draft form to allow a full public discussion, including inputs from the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection and the education partners. I also intend to publish draft regulations that I plan to make when the Bill is enacted.

In bringing forward these proposals, it is not my intention to unnecessarily intrude into how schools do their business. My policy objective is to ensure that the way in which schools decide on applications is structured, fair and transparent. As the Bill and the Regulations will be published in draft form, they will also be subject to a lot of detailed scrutiny before becoming law. I will be reflecting carefully on the views expressed in the consultation process to ensure they strike the right balance between school autonomy and fairness in our education system.