Ireland to reform school admission system in relation to religion

Ireland will reform the school admissions system in relation to the role that religion can play in that process, a cabinet minister said on Monday.

In a speech, Irish Education Minister Richard Bruton said it is unfair that preference is given by publicly-funded religious schools to children of their own religion who might live some distance away, ahead of children of a different religion or of no religion who live close to the school.

It is also unfair that parents, who might otherwise not do so, feel pressure to baptise their children in order to gain admission to the local school, Bruton said.

He set out four possible approaches for dealing with the issue, which includes a catchment area approach, a nearest school rule, a quota system and an outright ban on using religion as a factor in admissions.

He also set out the need to avoid possible pitfalls and unintended consequences with each of these approaches, including most importantly possible impacts on 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 Irish minister announced that he will be commencing a short, 10-12-week process of consultation, and will be interested in hearing the views of the groups who stand to be impacted by changes as well as any members of the public with views on the issue. Endit