Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 10 June 2015
27. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills her plans to amend legislation so that children may not be discriminated against in accessing school places on the basis of religion. [21934/15]
View answerSchools are not permitted to discriminate against an applicant for admission on any of the grounds set out in the Equal Status Act.
Where a school has places available the pupil should be admitted. However, in schools where there are more applicants than places available a selection process is necessary. The Equal Status Act provides that a primary or post-primary school does not discriminate where the objective of the school is to provide education in an environment which promotes certain religious values, it admits persons of a particular religious denomination in preference to others or it refuses to admit as a student a person who is not of that denomination and, in the case of a refusal, it is proved that the refusal is essential to maintain the ethos of the school. The recently published Education (Admission to Schools) Bill does not propose changes to the Equal Status Act.
