The President in Lourdes - Decisions we can’t dodge much longer

OVER recent weeks we have all heard how a school principal asked the Government for guidance on whether a Muslim girl attending his school should be allowed wear, as her parents wished, the Hijab in class.

It was reported how these requests were met with either silence or buck passing with a speed that would have made Tomás O’Leary’s very best efforts at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday seem laboured.

Indeed, the previous minister ridiculously suggested that each and every state school should formulate its own policy. Ms Hanafin’s successor, Batt O’Keeffe, has promised that the Government will consider issuing guidelines when it drafts an intercultural education strategy later this year. This response leaves lots of wriggle room and amounts to very little indeed. However, it is as much as can be expected in a society that is far happier washing its hands of these difficult issues rather than taking the hard decisions that will inevitably make some people unhappy.