David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I concur with the sentiments expressed about the issue raised by Senator Lorraine Higgins. School enrolment is not something that should be confined to a Commencement motion. For some reason it is an issue throughout the State. This week I have been contacted by three families and I could not understand why, all of a sudden, school enrolment was an issue. There seems to be some sort of co-ordinated campaign being conducted by some schools not to enrol children or to enforce rules that always existed but were never enforced. For some political - with a small "p" - reasons, this issue has arisen. It has caused real concern for some parents who have had their child on an enrolment list since their child was six months old. These parents have now been told the school cannot take their child, even though it is the closest school, and there is the potential that they will have to send their child to a school miles away. Such situations are unacceptable. Parents have been told that if they baptise their child, he or she will be allowed to enrol. That is no way for any republic to treat its children and we need to examine the matter.

The Government has had five years to deal with the matter. If the Government were to bring forward legislation to deal with this matter before the election or even before the Christmas recess, we in Sinn Féin would lend our support. We are considering tabling our own legislation in the absence of the Government doing so. School enrolment is an important issue.

I support Senator Ó Murchú because he raised the issue of Syria. We need to confront what is called ISIS. We need to confront the fanatical element of people who live in Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and all the region. It is clear to me that ISIS will not be defeated by France, Britain and America dropping bombs on Syria, and many people, quite rightly, feel that such an initiative would make the situation worse. We need a global strategy to deal with the people who were involved in the brutal acts of terror in Paris and elsewhere. What we will see if we continue to bomb Syria is more displacement, more refugees and more people being radicalised. Bombing the region will not solve the problem. Ireland, because of its position of neutrality and proud track record of peacekeeping, has a clear role to play. As I said a couple of weeks ago, we do not have to be neutral on such issues. As a State, we should not be neutral when it comes to fanatics like ISIS. Ireland does and should speak out against potential wars which are not in the interests of people located across the world.We have a clear role to play in this regard and I would support a call for a debate in this House on that important issue. The Minister should attend the House before the Christmas recess for such a debate.