Motion on Access to Education - 10th October 2007

Motion on Access to Education – 10th October 2007

Senator David Norris: I congratulate the
Labour Party on tabling this motion that is at
least partly in response to the critical situation
that existed in Balbriggan. I notice this motion is
causing the usual Wednesday evening ping-pong
match whereby the Opposition criticises the
Government for its failures and the Government
amends the motion noting and welcoming various
achievements. I think this debate should be taken
more seriously without points scoring.
The Minister for Education and Science,
Deputy Mary Hanafin, is one of the best Ministers
in this Government but that does not mean
her Department is immune from criticism and she
would not expect that to be the case. A critical
situation was raised on “Questions and Answers”
in recent weeks and a fine doctor stated clearly
that she was aware, in the area of her general
practice, of children turned away from a primary
school because they did not have a baptismal certificate.
This is a significant problem that must
be addressed.
The fact that there is a crisis led the Minister
to call in Educate Together, an excellent group,
and the chief executive said there is a catastrophic
failure in the provision of school places for rapidly
developing housing areas. This is not partisan,
party political view but rather one from the
coalface from an expert the Minister relied on to
rectify the situation. How did this situation arise?
We live in a rapidly developing society and a
very good article on this topic was written by Dr.
Garret FitzGerald. He points out that 60% of
residents of the area in which I live are not Irish
but mostly eastern European and Asian. A problem
exists regarding the command of the English
language possessed by some immigrants and this
is an area the Government must address immediately.
In the aforementioned school situations,
the preponderance of non-Irish people will inevitably
pull back other students, through no fault of
their own but through a lack of linguistic skills.
This is a problem that may lead to tension. Again,
how did this situation arise?
It is clear the information on which forward
planning should be based was available within the
Department. Dr. FitzGerald points out that
“from each census the necessary data on the
numbers aged naught to four in each of the 320
different areas of Dublin and in well over 3,500
other parts of the country have been available”.
If one adds this to details relating to housing
numbers, approvals and so on available from
county councils and data relating to people’s
nationalities and ethnic origins, it is clear the
information exists. However, it was inert and was
not acted upon and this constitutes failure.
Another significant problem is the baptismal
test. I am a churchgoing member of the Church
of Ireland and am not antagonistic towards
religion but I think the exemption from the
Equality Act sought by all churches, not just the
Roman Catholic Church, presents a significant
problem. This problem exists because of the lack
of confidence each church has in the ethos it
holds. I believe a real religious faith can be fostered
in the home and that school is a place for
giving facts. This is why I feel Educate Together
is such an excellent system. It is not militantly
atheistic. It provides for the religious needs of the
children and the requirements of parents.
It is very dangerous that churches should be
exempt from equality legislation. Christianity is
supposed to be about equality, the State is supposed
to treat all the children of the nation
equally, yet we exempt churches from such
notions. I raised this matter previously and the
Government should re-examine such exemptions
because they allow churches, using State money,
to fire teachers because of their lifestyles and a
perceived conflict with school ethos.
The State is comfortable with the lack of separation
of church and state and one need only
examine the case of Louise O’Keeffe, who sued
the State because she was sexually molested, for
evidence of this. She was landed with the costs of
the case because the State neatly passed responsibility
to the church. This is unfair and clearly indicates
the need for the separation of church and
state.
I note the Roman Catholic hierarchy has indicated
it no longer wants complete control of this
area of education and is preparing an exit strategy
of some kind. It is important we know the motivation
for this and how it will be accomplished in
order that we can have proper, integrated
education.