Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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753. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 521 of 24 February 2015, if she will investigate and act to stop the apparent illegality in the admissions policy to a national school (details supplied), in view of the fact that she indicated that she would in the reply to the parliamentary question. [11072/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The school to which the Deputy refers is a recognised primary school under the Patronage of the Archbishop of Dublin.

Existing equality legislation, which outlaws discrimination in relation to the admission of a student, makes provision for exemptions to apply in the case of single sex schools and in the case of schools where the objective is to provide education in an environment that promotes certain religious values.

The equality legislation provides that any primary or post-primary school that has this objective may admit a student of a particular religious denomination in preference to other students. The legislation also provides that a school whose objective is to provide education in an environment that promotes certain religious values can refuse to admit a student who is not of that religion only where the school proves that this refusal is essential to maintain the ethos of the school.

Schools that comply with the requirements of the equality legislation do not therefore discriminate on religious grounds. The issue of illegality in the admissions policy referred to by the Deputy does not therefore arise.