Education & Skills Committee publish report on Admissions to Schools Policy

No child should be denied admissions to a State-funded school on the basis of their religion or beliefs, a report from the Joint Committee on Education & Skills has recommended.

The report on scrutiny of Education (Admission to School) Bill 2016, said the legislation should be amended so that baptism is not a barrier to school admission.

Other recommendations include:

Access to local Schools – Children should be able to attend a local school if they so wish and not have to travel a great distance simply to secure an education but recognising the rights of parents to send their children to a school reflecting their ethos

Religious Instruction – guidelines need to be provided to schools in relation to students who opt-out of religious instruction/classes, which is  a constitutional right and in line with the recommendation from United Nations Committee on Rights of the Child, and committing to access for such children to appropriate alternatives to such classes;

Discrimination for children with Special Needs – Children are being turned away from certain schools due to the lack of facilities to accommodate such children, it is imperative that the NCSE be given the statutory power to require schools to establish an autism or special needs class where they identify the need of any such child. It is also imperative that the NCSE be given the ability to require schools to provide all necessary resources for the admission of any such child
Siblings – It is imperative that children be given the right to attend the same school as their siblings;

Oversubscription in Urban areas – This is due to the fact there is a serious lack of resources in the Education system especially in Urban areas that have grown substantially over the last number of years;
Access to Irish speaking schools – It is recommended that due regard be given to the right of native Irish speakers to receive their education through the medium of Irish and that the Bill must not interfere with this right.

Regulations – given that much of the detail of the Bill will be contained in the regulations. the Committee recommends that these draft regulations be published as soon as possible to afford Members the opportunity to consider them before the Bill is scheduled for Committee stage.

Committee Chair Fiona O’Loughlin TD said: “Last November, the Bill was referred to the Select Committee on Education and Skills for committee stage. As part of our consideration, we met with various representatives from Schools Management Bodies, Boards of Education, Teacher and Student Unions to get their perspectives and opinions on the Bill. Based on the hearings, the Committee arrived at a number of recommendations and conclusions, chief among them that no child should be denied admissions to a State-funded school on the basis of their religion or beliefs. Amongst our other recommendations is the fact that children with special needs should be catered for in their local schools and that the NCSE be given statutory powers to provide for this.”

“The Committee hopes that the observations raised within this report will be taken on board by the Minister for Education and Skills when the Bill is being considered at Committee stage next week - and that this report can and will assist in the consideration of the Bill.”

Read the full report here.

Ends

Media Enquiries:     

Liam O'Brien,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Communications Unit,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2

P: +353 1 618 4484
M: +353 86 189 5098
liam.obrien@oireachtas.ie

Committee Membership:

Chairperson: Fiona O'Loughlin TD (Fianna Fáil)

Deputies:

Joan Burton (Labour)
Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fáil)
Ciaran Cannon (Fine Gael)
Jim Daly (Fine Gael)
Catherine Martin (Green Party)
Carol Nolan (Sinn Féin)

Senators:

Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fáil)
Trevor Ó'Clochartaigh (Sinn Féin)
Lynn Ruane (Independent)