The Catholic Education Partnership has told the UN that Ireland is discriminating against Catholic schools by forbidding them from admitting Catholic children first if a school is overenrolled. Other faith schools are allowed to favour children from their own religion in the same circumstances.
The CEP made the accusation at a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Every few years the Irish Government, plus Irish NGOs, appear before it to report their progress in implementing the UN human rights standards. It is worth that these standards are not legally enforceable and are open to very wide and sometimes controversial interpretation.
This process is part of what is called the ‘Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and it takes place roughly every four to five years.
It is a peer-review process: other countries scrutinise Ireland’s record and can make recommendations to the Irish Government. Ireland is due to undergo its fourth review later in November this year and the CEP’s appearance in Geneva, along with other NGOS, was part of the review process.
As part of the review, CEP made a joint submission together with three international Catholic education organisations, claiming that when it comes to school admissions, there is effectively one rule for Catholic schools in Ireland and another for other denominational schools.
In fact, under the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018, introduced by the then Minister for Education, Richard Bruton, an over-enrolled Catholic primary school cannot give priority to Catholic children, even though it was established to serve Catholic families, first and foremost.
Minority-faith schools, however, may still give preference to children seeking an education in their religious tradition. The Catholic Education Partnership submission describes this as “direct and selective discrimination”.
Over enrollment was very rare even when the law was introduced and falling primary school numbers are likely to make it less common now. At the time the law was passed, accusations were made that Catholic schools operated a “baptism barrier”. That was a very loaded, negative term.
The Irish Constitution recognises the family as the primary and natural educator of the child and gives parents important rights concerning their children’s education, including their religious and moral formation. The CEP submission argues that current policy therefore sits uneasily not only with international protections for parental choice but with Ireland’s own constitutional tradition, in which, as it puts it, “the family is primary and the role of the State is supportive rather than monopolistic.”
The problem becomes particularly obvious when we look at school divestment.
The Government wants more Catholic primary schools to transfer to non-denominational patrons in areas where parents wish for greater choice. Catholic bishops have repeatedly indicated their willingness to cooperate with this process, but the main resistance often comes from parents.
Imagine a town with several Catholic schools. If one or more are divested, Catholic parents will have fewer Catholic schools available. If the remaining Catholic school becomes oversubscribed, it cannot give priority to Catholic families.
That gives Catholic communities a powerful reason to resist divestment. Why agree to surrender one Catholic school when there is no guarantee that Catholic children will be able to obtain places in those that remain?
The CEP submission argues that the 2018 admissions law has therefore become a practical obstacle to divestment. The State urges Catholic patrons to give up schools in the name of greater diversity while simultaneously weakening the ability of Catholic families to access the Catholic schools that remain.
There is an obvious contradiction here. Genuine pluralism should mean more meaningful choices for parents, not fewer. If the State wishes Catholic communities to cooperate in creating greater educational diversity, it should also ensure that families who continue to want a Catholic education can realistically obtain one.
