Ireland of 2008 is a nation whose society has vastly, and very recently, been transformed. It is now estimated that 15 per cent of the population are immigrants. Multiculturalism can thrive if opportunities for integration are seized and managed in the most positive possible way.
However, it appears that in the first, very basic test of our ability to handle integration, Ireland is failing dismally.
Our education system is floundering in the face of the most vulnerable minorities and their youngest children, who came here for a better life.
If you are the parent of a child who is about to begin primary education this coming September, and you are neither Protestant nor Roman Catholic, are you aware that access for your child to 99 per cent of primary schools is restricted? Primary schools that are funded by the State, from you, the taxpayer.
Notwithstanding announcements earlier this week that two schools in West Dublin will allocate a third of places to non-Catholics, Ireland is on the brink of a societal crisis; 63 new places for non-catholics is merely papering over cracks in a dam.
Ireland's primary school system has evolved over 200 years to the system we have today. The system is one of patronage of various institutions, for the most part religious.
Before the State was founded, demographics of the 19th century determined that most schools were Catholic.
Churches provided land and buildings for these schools, which parents then supported, and entrusted their children to their care.
A Catholic ethos has been the central focus of these schools' approach to education, which extends to their enrolment policies. The schools are run by boards of management under the auspices of the Church.
As the state evolved, duties to provide education arose under our own constitutional law and international covenants. Quite conveniently, Catholic schools have largely been the vehicle that has fulfiled the State's obligations.
However, that same vehicle is in no way bound by the same obligations. Catholic schools are perfectly entitled to operate in whatever manner they choose.
On first glance, it appears that Ireland's education system works in such a way that certain children are legitimately denied access to State-funded education. The reality is that the Catholic schools have fulfiled a role to such an extent, the State is now wholly reliant on such faith-based schools.
Some figureheads within the Catholic hierarchy have stated that they have done their job and those left without places cannot blame the Catholic Church. Others, however, have had a more expansive approach towards their perceived responsibilities, and visionaries, such as Bishop Willie Walshe of Killaloe, decided some years ago that between five and 10 per cent of places in diocesan schools should be reserved for Travellers and non-Roman Catholics.
Primary schools in that diocese enjoy the healthiest levels of integration seen so far in this country and are a model for other schools.
The system that has evolved in Ireland is problematic but somewhat understandable, given the prominent role of religion in our past.
However, a response from the state to educate the new Ireland is long overdue, and implementing a quota system, as heralded this week, may not be the answer.
There are concerns that implications might arise for Catholic children, who may now face a shortage of places. It is not just a question of numbers.
Perhaps the whole notion of allocating places based on religious persuasion is unsound and we need to begin the system anew. Or at least the state needs to start thinking anew. There is an element of the problem being imposed on Catholic schools, whose resulting coping mechanism may result in further social segregation. And there are strong arguments to suggest that it is not the Catholic schools' problem.
Catholic schools once formed the centre point of the parish; school experiences, coupled with home-life, created a child's sense of community. Is it practical, or even realistic, in an age where active religious participation is not as dominant as it once was, that school children should still be defined by religion?
And if the school experience is to truly contribute to a child's sense of community, shouldn't that school properly reflect their dynamic and multicultural community in the best possible way?
Ireland now faces the greatest challenge to its education system in history.
This challenge was identified in 2005 by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination, where it expressed concerns that the current system in Ireland favours Catholic children.
Sixty-three places this year will not be enough, and while we may laud the efforts now being made by Church and State, this cannot become a question of simply coping.
It is an issue which requires extensive rethinking and substantial forward planning. The effects of how this problem is dealt with now will be far reaching into the future. We get one shot at doing integration well, and it's the youngest and most vulnerable in our new progressive nation who have most at stake. If we get this one wrong, they will suffer the consequences and have to deal with the segregated society, and enormous problems that follow, when their generation comes of age.
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