Sir, – The Dáil debate on the Equal Participation in Schools Bill – defeated on Thursday by 90 votes to 43 – focused largely on minority protection.
The two biggest parties’ defence of the “baptism barrier” has gradually shifted from a defence of all denominational schools’ ethos (90 per cent of which are Catholic) to a focus almost exclusively on protecting minority religions.
This surely reflects a realisation that an argument placing the interests of the majority religion’s institutions above the rights to freedom of religion and equality of individuals could not withstand scrutiny.
But it must come as a terrible shock for people of minority faiths that they are now being used as the primary excuse for maintaining a law that discriminates against them.
It is true that section 7(3)(c) of the Equal Status Acts 2000-2015 was inserted to provide an exemption from the prohibition of discrimination in the provision of education in order to protect minority schools’ ethos.
Of course, that’s not how the section has worked. Because 90 per cent of schools in Ireland are under the patronage of the Catholic Church, the rule is most frequently invoked by schools to refuse admission to religious minorities and non-religious families.
The result is that Buddhists, Muslims, Protestants, the non-religious and those belonging to all the other minority belief systems in Ireland can be excluded from almost every school in the country based on their religious beliefs. The fact that the only Jewish primary school in Ireland – Stratford National School in South Dublin – can enrol Jewish children ahead of others is of remarkably little use to a Jewish family living in Ashbourne and unable to attend the local school.
The vast majority of minority religion families do not live near to school that prioritises them, so they need equal access to the local school regardless of its patron.
The reality is that those belonging to minority religions suffer most from the effects of the “baptism barrier”.
This is why the large number of minority believers who are members of Education Equality are calling for equal access to all State schools so that they can attend their local schools without discrimination.
While Minister for Education Richard Bruton in opposing the Bill spoke of the concerns of some religious organisations that removing section 7(3)(c) could harm their ethos, this amounts to protecting the concerns of institutions rather than those of people.
It is clear that individuals’ right to freedom of religion does not require that they have access to a school that provides exclusively for adherents of their religious beliefs.
It is not possible for the State to build and fund a denominational school exclusively for every religious denomination in Ireland, within a reasonable distance from the home of every follower of every belief system.
This is why children must be educated together in local schools that cater for children of all beliefs living in that area. The wishes of institutions to control the schools they run cannot outweigh the constitutional rights of individuals to freedom of religion and equality.
The true protection of religious minorities therefore requires the repeal of the “baptism barrier” rather than its retention. – Yours, etc,
APRIL DUFF,
Legal Officer,
Education Equality,
Portobello Dock,
Portobello Harbour,
Dublin 8.