Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 May 2017
118. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Education and Skills when the implementation of the school enrolment policy will take place; and if he will take into account the submissions made by minority faith schools. [22547/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy may be aware I ran a public consultation process from 24 January to 20 March 2017 on the role of denominational religion in the school admission process and possible approaches for making changes.
A number of submissions were received from Protestant and other minority faith schools. In this regard, as I have said throughout, I am mindful of the need to avoid possible pitfalls and unintended consequences such as possible impacts on these minority religions and on the wishes of Protestant, Jewish, Islamic and other communities to be able to run schools in accordance with their ethos and admit children from their communities to attend those schools.
The 8 week phase of receiving written submissions formed part of a broader consultation process which will include additional steps, including any follow-up consultation that is required, collation of responses and development of next steps.
My Department has begun the process of examining the submissions and formulating next steps. Clearly I will not make any decisions around next steps until such time as all of the submissions have been examined and considered.
