Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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515. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department plans to give more specific guidance to schools on how they can make meaningful provision for students who have opted out of religious education; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [61506/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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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.

Guidance for good practice is currently 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 Catholic Schools Partnership has also published guidelines for Catholic schools in relation to the inclusion of all pupils. These guidelines also support schools to facilitate requests to attend school without attending religious instruction.?

My Department has published a comprehensive Education Plan 2025 that outlines a significant body of work being undertaken this year to deliver for our school and youth service communities.

This plan reflects the Government’s ongoing commitment to ensuring that the education system is inclusive and responsive to the evolving and diverse needs of families across the country. There are over 100 actions in this plan, including the recently launched survey of primary school parents, guardians and communities.

The Education Plan 2025 also includes a commitment to provide best practice guidance to schools in relation to arrangements to facilitate parental requests for children to attend school without attending religious instruction. Work is underway to develop this guidance. This will build on the legislative requirements set out in the admissions act.