The State could be in breach of human rights by not providing children whose parents do not want them to learn a religion with a viable alternative, a conference has been told.

One reason for this, the paper says, is that the ethos of a
denominational school can permeate the whole school meaning it is
impossible for a child to escape it.

In a paper presented at a conference on schools and human rights at the weekend, the Irish Human Rights Commission said that the State could be in breach of several international human rights documents on this basis.

Presenting the paper, Dr Alison Mawhinney of Queen’s University, Belfast, cited a controversial decision by the European Court of Human Rights in which it found that Norway could be in breach of the Convention on Human Rights because the opt-out provision for religion class did not “protect the parents’ freedom of thought”.

The conference was organised by the Irish Human Rights Commission and the law department of Trinity College, Dublin.

According to The Irish Times, Commission’s chairman, Maurice Manning, said that there were changing expectations in Ireland concerning education and religion and that universal human rights principles are the common denominator that can bring diverse views together.

He also told the conference: “To put to somewhat baldly, the core issue to be discussed concerns whether religion has a place in the classroom and, if so, what role should it play”.

The Commission has invited interested parties to respond to its submission by the end of January.

Next year, Ireland is to appear before the UN Human Rights Commission and the place of religion in schools will come under scrutiny.