From top: Children and parents of Portobello Educate Together demonstrate outside Leinster House for the need of a new multi-denominational school; Carol Hunt.

Legislation which contradicts the constitution is being used up and down the country in order to discriminate against children on the basis of religion.

Carol Hunt writes:

A quick legal lesson – In the hierarchy of Irish laws constitutional law always supersedes legislative law. That’s pretty easy to understand, isn’t it?

The highest law in the land is our constitution and all other laws are derived from it. That’s why the President can refer a piece of legislation to the Supreme Court if they’re not sure that it’s in line with the constitution.

Which is why I’m confused. And seemingly, so are a lot of other people in the country – particularly parents who are trying to get their children places in their local schools.

You see, Article 44 of our constitution guarantees religious equality for all Irish citizens. In particular, it states:

“[3] The State shall not impose any disabilities or make any discrimination on the grounds of religious profession, belief or status.”

That’s pretty self-explanatory, isn’t it?

It means that the State, and one presumes, state-funded organisations that are providing services on behalf of the State, cannot discriminate against people on the grounds of their religious beliefs. One would assume that includes children also.

Children are people too, and they are entitled to the full protection of the law. In fact in Ireland even unborn children are entitled to their own, state-funded legal team. Which is why so many of us are confused. Because legislation which contradicts the constitution is currently being used up and down the country in order to discriminate against children on the basis of religion.

Under 7(3)(c) of the Equal Status Act 2000 schools under religious patronage can give preference to children of the relevant denomination in the enrolment process. In short, what this means is that state-funded schools can refuse to enroll local children if their “religious values” are at odds with the ethos of the school.

In addition, Rule 68 of the Rules for National Schools 1965 insists on an “integrated curriculum” of religious values which makes opting out of religious instruction impossible.

What this means in practice is that, if you want to get your child into a local primary school – nearly 97% of them are under Catholic patronage – you will need to have them baptised into the Catholic faith and they will have to attend religious instruction in that faith, during school hours.

As the mother of two, non religious children, I have experience of the frustration and anger parents can experience when your child has no school to go to. Of when your child is refused admission to their local school because they haven’t got a piece of paper saying they are a member of the “right” church.

I’ve spent hours, days, months – what sometimes seemed like eternity – investigating the issues involved, studying the constitution and legislation, writing letters of complaint and appeal and eventually, of desperation. In short, I begged.

One of my children managed to gain admittance to a local school without a baptismal cert – for which we were very grateful, and consequently accepted the hours of catechism in a religion she didn’t belong to with placid tolerance. The other eventually got a place in an Educate Together school – a very long bus journey away, but well worth it.

More and more Irish parents – of all religions and none – are coming up against the baptismal barrier.

Last month, our Minister for Children, Dr. James Reilly, told the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child:

“Our school system evolved from the religious orders themselves and so it’s not surprising that we have such a preponderance of denominational schools with 95 per cent of primary and 70 per cent of secondary schools of a denominational nature.”

This isn’t quite true though. The National School system introduced in 1831 was a non-denominational one meant to bring together children of all faiths.

The original objective was to “unite in one system children of different creeds”. But then the churches put pressure on governments to allow them to take over and discriminate on the basis of religion.

Seemingly, that’s all about to change though. The government told the UN that “the ongoing Patronage Divestment process creates greater primary school choice for parents”.

Which would be great – except for the fact that it’s not true.

Only two schools so far have been successfully divested. The Catholic Church is clinging on with gritted teeth to its power base in the country, and the government seems loath to confront them on it.

This has to change. We live in a democracy – not a theocracy. And by allowing this religious discrimination to continue we’re making a mockery of our constitution.

Carol Hunt is an Independent Alliance candidate for the Dun Laoghaire constituency. Follow Carol on Twitter: @carolmhunt

Pics: Rollingnews, Fergal Philips