Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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52. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will report on the consultations regarding reform of school admissions. [24652/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is referring to the consultation process that I have undertaken on the role of denominational religion in the school admission process and possible approaches for making changes. 

I have stated that I believe that it is unfair that preference is given by publicly-funded religious schools to children of their own religion who might live some distance away, ahead of children of a different religion or of no religion who live close to the school.

I also believe that it is unfair that parents, who might otherwise not do so, feel pressure to baptise their children in order to gain admission to the local school and I intend to reform the school admissions system in relation to the role that religion can play in that process. 

I am mindful of the need to avoid possible pitfalls and unintended consequences, including possible impacts on minority religions and on the wishes of Protestant, Jewish, Islamic and other communities to be able to run schools in accordance with their ethos and admit children from their communities to attend those schools.

The public consultation process accepted written submissions from 24th January to 20th March 2017.

The written consultation process attracted almost 1,000 responses from a combination of individuals, schools and stakeholder organisations.

I previously advised that following the receipt and analysis of written submissions, consideration would be given as to whether any additional steps are needed as part of the consultation process. Accordingly, I recently announced that I will hold a Forum on the role of Religion in Primary School Admissions in the coming days.

My aim is to find a solution which addresses the issues in this area, while respecting the strongly-held and legitimate desire of minority religious groups to run schools which are genuinely of their own ethos.