Sir, – In Alan Hynes’s recent article “A discriminatory law has become a block on the divestment of Catholic schools” (Opinion & Analysis, September 24th), I note his advocacy for certain fundamental rights of parents and children as enshrined in human rights law and the Constitution.
I think we can all agree this is important in the discussion of Ireland’s education system.
As noted by Mr Hynes, under the Constitution, the State is obliged to provide public funding for primary school education and in doing so make it practically available to rights holders, ie parents and children.
While this is true, it is disingenuous to suggest that most parents have a true choice regarding the primary school their children will attend.
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As 90 per cent of publicly funded primary schools are Catholic, most parents have no choice. While State-funded education is practically available to all, significant equality challenges exist.
To ensure equality of access, Section 11 of the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018 was introduced. Mr Hynes’s argument that this is a barrier to divestment is absurd.
If the Catholic Education Partnership were truly in favour of divestment, why then did we not see more progress prior to the 2018 legislation?
Since the divestment programme began in 2012, only one to two schools have divested each year. His suggestion that publicly funded Catholic-ethos schools should be allowed to discriminate on the basis of religion in a post-divestment world contradicts his expressed commitment to human and constitutional rights.
With the church so entwined in education, the minimum that parents of non-Catholic children can demand in a Catholic-dominated primary school sphere is that their right pursuant to Article 44.2.4 of the Constitution “to attend a school receiving public money without attending religious instruction at that school” is upheld, a provision which Mr Hynes notably failed to mention in his discussion. – Yours, etc,
ALLISON MARTIN,
Children’s Rights Officer,
Education Equality,
Castletownshend,
Co Cork.