Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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22. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will legislate to protect families from religious discrimination in the enrolment process to all schools, by amending section 7(3)(c) of the Equal Status Act as a first step towards providing equal school access for all, with the option of teaching religion at the end of the school day. [17913/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Programme for Government contains a commitment to publish new School Admissions legislation taking account of current draft proposals and addressing issues including publication of school enrolment policies, an end to waiting lists, introduction of annual enrolment structures, and transparency and fairness in admissions for pupils and their parents.

I have commenced a process of consultation with opposition parties to discuss my proposals to introduce a new Admissions Bill. Following these consultations, it is my intention to publish a new Admissions Bill during the current Dáil session.

As the Deputy may be aware, a Private Members Bill proposing an amendment to section 7(3)(c) of the Equal Status Act has been initiated and is due to be discussed later today. As previously indicated, my preference is to discuss this complex issue with the Oireachtas Committee at the earliest opportunity and I am open to hearing views on the best way to proceed within our existing constitutional framework.

It is my view that an effective way of providing diversity and choice for parents is by providing additional multi-denominational and non-denominational schools, and in this regard, I have committed to increasing the rate of delivery of these schools, to reach a total of 400 by 2030.

In relation to the teaching of religion in schools, a follow-up paper to Report of Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector was published in 2014. The paper outlines good practice and options for promoting diversity in all schools and encourages school authorities to engage in consultation with stakeholders and to review their policies and practices on an ongoing basis to ensure that they remain suitable for the school population that they serve. One of the areas to be examined by schools relates to the scheduling of religion classes, and the paper gives an overview of different types of arrangements that schools can put in place in this regard. This is an area I plan to keep under review.