Cathal BarryDiversifying patronage in the Irish education system could lead to segregation and exclusion, according to the chair of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection.
Dublin Mid-West Labour TD Joanna Tuffy told The Irish Catholic that in her view, “increasing diversity is not a good approach as it doesn’t cater for villages, and makes the system more divided, moving from a system of Catholic schools that are relatively inclusive to more segregation. It’s just perpetuating things and making things even more divided than currently”.
Insofar as segregation is an issue in Ireland’s schools, “that comes down to some people exercising choice”, said Ms Tuffy, who would favour a single national multi-denominational system.
In line with the committee’s March 2014 report on school admissions, Ms Tuffy told The Irish Catholic that she is “very critical” of “the ‘first come, first served approach’” used by some schools including those in the Educate Together organisation, as it discriminates against immigrants and other newcomers to areas. “If a school’s not oversubscribed it doesn’t matter,” she said, “but if it is, ‘first come, first served’ means children of immigrants lose out.”
Her comments were echoed by Bishop Denis Nulty who, speaking at Mass in Graiguecullen on Sunday, said that “in the usual August debate that takes place around school patronage and provision of places, it is clear that the local parish Catholic school continues to offer the most inclusive model of education in the Ireland of 2015”.
Documents since acquired by The Irish Times under Freedom of Information legislation have revealed conflicts between Government officials and some Educate Together schools which have sought to prioritise children from outside their catchment areas over children living locally.
Educate Together CEO Paul Rowe has defended his organisation’s enrolment policies, saying that giving preference to children who live locally could be unfair to children from further away who are not Catholic.