Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

100. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will give a direction to schools to ensure that they provide students that do not attend subjects in religious instruction under section 30(2)(e) of the Education Act of 1998 with instruction in other curriculum subjects during that part of the school day; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49998/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Under Article 44 of the Constitution and in accordance with Section 30 of the Education Act, 1998, parents have a right to have their children opt out of religious instruction classes if they so wish. It is expected that this right will be upheld by schools on foot of a parental request.

Under the provisions of the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018, all schools have new admissions policies, which have been approved by the patron and published on the schools website. The act requires where schools provide religious instruction that they clearly set out in their admission policies the school’s arrangements for students, where the parent or in the case of a student who has reached the age of 18 years, the student, has requested that the student attend the school without attending religious instruction in the school.

The manner in which any school ensures that the right to opt out of religion instruction classes is upheld is a matter for the school concerned. Each individual school must determine the particular arrangements which are most appropriate in its individual circumstances having regard to local issues such as available space, supervision requirements and how the school concerned organises classes etc. On occasion there can be practical issues around supervision and arranging class times and these have to be considered by schools at local level and worked through in a pragmatic way.