Catholic schools' enrolment policy is in compliance with the Equal Status Act, according to Monsignor Dan O'Connor, General Secretary of the Catholic Primary Schools Association. Monsignor O'Connor was responding to claims by the Equality Authority on Wednesday suggesting that the policy of Catholic schools to give preferential treatment to Catholic pupils where there is a shortage might be in breach of both Irish and European anti-discrimination laws.
Speaking to ciNews, he said that the Equal Status Act made specific provision for denominational schools to give preference to pupils on the basis of religion.
The Act says that schools may not discriminate against any pupil on the basis of gender, race or religion, save in certain defined cases set out in the Act. One of the exceptions applies to “schools whose object is to provide education in an environment that promotes certain religious values”.
Such a school, the Act says “can admit a student of a particular religious denomination in preference to other students”. It can also “refuse to admit a student not of that religion”, provided it can prove that this is necessary to protect the ethos of that school.
“On that basis, Catholic schools operate under the Act,” Mgr O'Connor said.
The Equality Authority had said that it had written to the Archdiocese of Dublin, the Government and some Dublin schools outlining its concerns. It said it was concerned about “segregation” in Irish schools, and said that it believed that oversubscribed schools which admitted Catholics first were in effect refusing children from ethnic minorities.
However, statistics made available by the CPSMA show that Catholic schools across the country are accommodating pupils with immigrant parents. For example, in the new Adamstown development in Esker, a new Catholic primary school, St John the Evangelist National School, opened last Tuesday. Of the new pupils, 50 per cent are of non-Irish parents and non-Catholic. The rest are Catholic, but 40 per cent are of non-Irish parents, with 10 per cent of these being African.
In Macroom in Co. Cork, a quarter of the 200 girls enrolled in the school have non-Irish parents. In Celbridge, a new Catholic school has opened due to the other five schools in the area being full. Of the 85 children who have enrolled, 63 were of non-Irish parentage, again mostly African.
Mgr O'Connor said that the Equality Authority had not been in touch with the CPSMA about the issue, and that the Association would be seeking legal advice if a legal challenge arises.
The statement from the Equality Authority comes a week after the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, vigourously denied that the Church's enrolment policy in any way facilitated segregation. He said that the shortage of school places, which led to an emergency school being set up in Balbriggan for mainly African children, was down to poor state planning.
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