Foot dragging on School Admissions Bill must end
Labour spokesperson on Education, Senator Aodhán Ó Ríordáin has called on the Government to stop delaying proposals on school admissions and bring forward it’s legislative proposals as soon as possible to end the baptism barrier.
Sen. Ó Ríordáin said:
“It is now six months since the Minister for Education set out his approach to remove religion as criteria in the school admissions process.
“Since then we have been waiting for the proposed legislative language which has still not been published, and which we are continually informed is with the Office of the Attorney General.
“In the weeks ahead schools across the country will begin to finalise their intake for the 2018 – 2019 school year.
“So another year will have passed without any action to reform school admissions and remove the baptism barrier. Parents across Ireland will once again be faced with impossible choices, and restricted access to their local school.
“It is time for the Government to finally act on this and stop dragging its feet by ensuring that our publicly funded school system does not discriminate against non-religious children.
“We still have no date as to when the legislation will be published. We cannot allow another year to pass without this much needed reform in place.”