Ciarán Ahern (Dublin South West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

177. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the measures her Department is taking to ensure that children in publicly funded schools are not required to attend religious instruction against the wishes of their parents, in line with the constitutional right to freedom of conscience and Article 44.2.4 of the Constitution; if she supports children's constitutional rights not to attend said religious instruction; if her Department includes sacramental preparation under the definition of "religious instruction"; what specific action her Department will take during the current communion season to ensure that children who opt-out of religious instruction's rights are upheld; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22352/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Under the Constitution, the provisions of article 44 recognise the rights of children to attend school without attending religious instruction at that school. Furthermore the provisions of Section 30(2) (e) of the Education Act 1998 provide that a school shall not require a student to attend instruction in any subject which is contrary to the conscience of the parent / guardian of the student or in the case of a student who has reached the age of 18 years, the student. It is expected that this right will be upheld by schools on foot of a parental request.

The provisions of the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018 requires, where schools provide religious instruction, they must 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 not attend 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.

The department has not issued guidance to schools in relation to arrangements to facilitate requests to not attend religious instruction classes. Guidance for good practice is available to schools in the follow-up paper to the Report of the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector which was published in 2014. The paper provides an overview of different types of arrangements that schools have put in place to facilitate parents who do not wish for their children to attend religious instruction activities.

The paper encourages school authorities to consider their policies and practices and to review whether they are taking the steps necessary to welcome all pupils and make them feel included. The Catholic Schools Partnership has also published guidelines for catholic schools in relation to the inclusion of all pupils and that this also contains suggestions on how such schools can manage requests to attend school without attending religious instruction.