Bishops last night hit back at the Equality Authority over claims of discrimination by Catholic schools. "The assumption behind its recent statement in relation to enrolment in faith schools is mistaken," said Bishop Leo O'Reilly, who chairs the Hierarchy's Education Commission.
It was like accusing the GAA of discrimination for giving preference to the supporters of Cork and Kerry when distributing tickets for the All-Ireland football final, he said.
Earlier in the week, the Authority expressed concern that enrolment policies of certain schools had resulted in the emergence of segregated primary school provision for black and minority ethnic students.
Bishop O'Reilly said: "This is indeed regrettable, but it is not the fault of faith schools, which provide education for large numbers of students from other faiths whatever their colour or ethnic background.
"I am confident in saying that the only restrictions on this provision in the case of Catholic schools are space and resources. In the Catholic schools recently in the news there were simply not enough places for all the students who wished to enrol."
He said that race or ethnic origin had nothing to do with the criteria for admission into Catholic schools and suggestions about racially motivated admission policies in Catholic schools were either misinformed or malicious.
"The reason for preferring Catholic students in most situations is that the Church founds schools and invests in schools in order to provide a Catholic education for its members.
"It does this in response to the desire of Catholic parents to have their children educated in Catholic schools and in doing so it invests heavily in providing sites for schools, personnel for management, and administrative support for Boards of Management. This is in addition to the tax contributions made by Catholics as well as by everybody else in society.
"The point at issue then is whether Catholic parents have the right to provide an education for their children in accordance with their own convictions."
This right was enshrined in the Irish Constitution and also in many international instruments. These included the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) which declared that "parents shall have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children" (Art. 26, 3).
"Catholic schools will continue to welcome children of other faiths where they have the resources to do so. The provision of schools under different patronage for those parents who wish to avail of them for their children will ensure that parents have the choices that are guaranteed to them in the Constitution, and that Catholic schools will have the space and the resources to continue to be inclusive of other faiths," he added.
Meanwhile, Minister Mary Hanafin said she did not believe legislative change would be necessary to alter school enrolment policies.
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