Major difficulties faced by parents in getting appropriate education for their children - 1st July 2003

Complete rethink of Department procedures necessary
Educate Together have been invited to address the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Science at 11:30am, July 3rd 2003 at Leinster House.

Educate Together will address two central issues of importance for the Irish educational system.

1. The state must plan for educational the needs of a rapidly diversifying society.
2. The need for pro-active planning and support for new schools.Currently the state is building up a legal and human rights liability in continuing to re-enforce an overwhelming monopoly of privately owned, denominational schools at a time of great social change.

Currently 99% of all primary schools available to families in Ireland are legally bound to uphold a specific religious ethos. This leaves a 1% choice for families who wish to send their child to a school that respects all cultural backgrounds and faiths. While the Constitution of Ireland specifically prohibits the state from compelling families to send their children to schools against their conscience and lawful preference this near to impossible due to the lack of supply. Unless the state recognises this liability and takes action to plan for structural change it could be violating the rights of these families and their children.

Educate Together propose the State to create a national network of schools that operate under a legal charter that guarantees the identity of all children is respected, irrespective of their social, cultural or religious backgrounds. This network should be in schools owned by the state, developed in the context of the National Development Plan and protected by ring-fenced funding.

Parents attempting to address the need for such schools in the past 25 years have recently met extreme difficulties. Obstacles have significantly increased in the past three years. Currently, even in areas where all parties agree there is a need for a new school, the state has no mechanism whereby the school can be created. Planned new schools do not appear on the Departments published building list and no budget line assigned. There are currently crisis situations in Lucan, Donabate, Navan and Swords.

Educate Together will argue for a complete rethink of the Department’s procedures for new schools and a new package of supports in the first years of their operation.