Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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56. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason for a new forum on religious education in schools in view of 11 previous forums dealing with this general issue and two public consultations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24773/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The current consultation process is specifically in relation to the role of denominational religion in the school admission process. I am the first Minister for Education to state that the system as it currently exists is unfair and the current consultation forum is the first consultation forum on this issue.

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. 

This is a highly complex and difficult issue. There are no easy solutions to this problem, with difficulties in areas including constitutional law, administration of the schools system and protection of minority religious groups. 

However, doing nothing is not an option. While only 4% of our primary schools are under non-religious patronage, 10% of the population in the recent census stated that they are non-religious, with this figure even higher for those among usual parenting ages. One third of all marriages now take place outside of any religion. 

The first step in this consultation process invited written submissions from the public, schools and interest groups between 24th January and 20th March 2017. The written consultation process attracted almost 1,000 responses from a combination of individuals, schools and stakeholder organisations.

I 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 this problem, while respecting the very strongly-held and legitimate desire of minority religious groups to run schools which are genuinely of their own ethos.

If the Deputy is criticising the decision to consult with people who stand to be affected by any changes in this area, I strongly disagree with him. As mentioned this is the first such consultation, this is a highly complex and difficult issue and it is only right that we should consult in detail with the people who stand to be affected by change, prior to making decisions.