Schools say ‘baptism barrier’ is rare

Fewer than one in 20 Catholic schools in Dublin are turning away children who have not been baptised.

The Catholic Primary School Management Association (CPSMA) says that barriers to getting into local schools are more often a lack of space than religious difference.

The CPSMA was responding to a recent debate about reforms being considered by Education Minister Richard Bruton to reduce or remove links between faith and school enrolment.

One option on which he is seeking submissions is the removal of the right of the 95% of primary schools that are denominational to give preference to children of their own religion over children of other or no religion.

Other options could be to require schools to prioritise local children of a different faith over those of their own religion from outside the area, or to limit the proportion of places that could be set aside on a faith basis.

A number of groups are lobbying to end the legality of schools giving preference to children of their own faith, and they claim to have strong public support.

The ‘baptism barrier’ has also been criticised by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Ombudsman for Children, and other official bodies.

However, CPSMA general secretary Seamus Mulconry said the finding of a survey among primary schools in the greater Dublin area questioned the extent to which this is a problem.

Only 17 out of 384 (4.4%) schools that responded had refused to enrol children on grounds relating to a baptism certificate.

Asked about enrolments for the current school year, 314 schools said that 27,000 applications were received and 19,218 places were eventually filled.

However, just 96 of the 7,750 failed enrolments were related to issues around baptism certificates, the CPSMA said.

It also said that the figures do not refer to the numbers of children, as many families apply to multiple schools for their children.

“It is very important to bear in mind that these children, including the several thousand turned down a place in a chosen school for reasons unconnected with religion, will have been offered places in other schools,” Mr Mulconry said.

“It is striking that the overwhelming focus of public comment in the media on the issue of schools admission policy… has focused on an issue that affects only 1.2% of the applications that do not result in enrolment.”

The survey was carried out, he said, among schools in the greater Dublin area, where the shortage of school places is most acute.

"Around one in five of the country’s 4,000 primary and second-level schools is estimated to be over-subscribed, meaning admissions criteria can be used that may include religion, as well as address, or having siblings or parents who are present or past pupils.

“The real issue is one of resources and the need to create school places through the opening of new schools, or the expansion of existing ones,” Mr Mulconry said.

“The framing of this debate, as centring on the ‘baptism barrier’, is frankly insulting to the principals, staff, and volunteer boards of management of Catholic schools throughout the State.”

The CPSMA and the Church of Ireland Board of Education are expected to have their views heard soon by the Oireachtas Education Committee.

Last month, it heard from groups that refute that there are constitutional barriers to removing legal exemptions for schools from discrimination claims, claims that link enrolments and religious ethos.