The Republic of Ireland’s Ombudsman for Children, Emily Logan, has called for the law to be changed so state funded faith schools no longer have the blanket freedom to discriminate in their admissions policy against children on faith grounds. The Office of the Ombudsman for Children is a statutory body tasked with protecting and promoting the rights and welfare of children and young people.
The Ombudsman has made her call in response to a draft Bill related to school admissions. In her submission to the Irish Government she argues that ‘… children should not have preferential access to publicly funded education on the basis of their religion’, citing in support of her judgment Article 44.2.3 of the Irish Constitution, which prevents the State imposing any disability or discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief, as well as the recommendation for the change by both the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (paragraph 18) and UN Committee on the Right of the Child (paragraph 61). She suggests however that the Minister for Education could be given the ability to grant a derogation to denominational schools, permitting some to select by faith if their student body no longer reflected their denominational character.
The Republic of Ireland joins England and Wales in a very small group of developed countries that permit any religious selection at state funded schools. A recent study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) showed that only four of the thirty two OECD member countries it looked at allowed religious discrimination in admissions to state schools (table 2.3 p15).
Chair of the Accord Coalition, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, said ‘The Ombudsman’s recommendation highlights how faith selection by schools is religious discrimination and how unusual it is in the modern world for such practices to be legally permissible. She has made an important contribution to public debate, which should be noted in those few remaining countries that allow institutionalised discrimination as part of school life – the very public bodies that should be equipping young people for positively critical and respectful engagement with living in a mixed-belief society.’
How long is it going to take for Ireland to catch up with the rest of the developed world with regard to religious discrimination in school admissions. The minister for Education is only now considering changing the archaic wording of the law which says that religious education is ‘by far the most important subject on the curriculum.’