Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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697.To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to outline the course of action open to parents who are unable to secure a place for their child in a multi-denominational school, in respect of their wish that their child should not have to attend any denominational ‘faith formation’ class; if she will outline the arrangements required to be made by publicly funded schools in order to respect the belief system of such families; and if she will make a statement on the matter.[35811/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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My department’s main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places in the area. In relation to school admissions, it is the responsibility of the managerial authorities of all schools to implement an enrolment policy in accordance with the Education Act, 1998.

The Department’s ‘Schools Reconfiguration for diversity process’ supports the transfer of schools from denominational patrons to multi-denominational patrons in response to the wishes of local school communities. This process has been developed to accelerate the delivery of multi-denominational schools in line with the Programme for Government of having 400 multi-denominational primary schools by 2030. A significant amount of work has been done by the Department on the scope, logistics and practical arrangements for a survey of primary school communities. It is intended that the online, school-specific survey will ask parents and guardians of children currently in primary school and parents and guardians of children who have not yet started primary school their preferences on important aspects of school provision and choice, including demand for a multi-denominational ethos.

Under the Constitution, the provisions of article 44 recognise the rights of children to attend school without attending religious instruction at that school. Furthermore the provisions of Section 30(2) (e) of the Education Act 1998 provide that a school shall not require a student to attend instruction in any subject which is contrary to the conscience of the parent / guardian of the student or in the case of a student who has reached the age of 18 years, the student. It is expected that this right will be upheld by schools on foot of a parental request.

The manner in which any school ensures that the right to not attend religion instruction classes is upheld, is a matter for the school concerned. Each individual school must determine the particular arrangements which are most appropriate in its individual circumstances having regard to local issues such as available space, supervision requirements and how the school concerned organises classes etc.

The follow-up paper to the Report of the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector which was published in 2014 outlines good practice and options for promoting diversity in all schools. The paper gives an overview of different types of arrangements that schools have put in place to facilitate parents who do not wish for their children to attend religious instruction classes.

The paper encourages school authorities to consider their policies and practices and to review whether they are taking the steps necessary to welcome all pupils and make them feel included. The Catholic Schools Partnership has also published guidelines for catholic schools in relation to the inclusion of all pupils and that this also contains suggestions on how such schools can manage requests to attend school without attending religious instruction.