E-sceal 533 - Amendment of the Equal Status Act 2000 in regard to religious requirements
- Published: 18 October 2018
The impact of the Commencement of Section 11 of the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018 commenced on 3 October 2018. Amendment of the Equal Status Act 2000 in regard to religious requirements
This section provides for the amendment of the Equal Status Act 2000 to remove, in the case of recognised oversubscribed Catholic primary schools, the existing provision that permits such schools to use religion as a selection criterion in school admissions.
In practical terms, oversubscribed Catholic primary schools will no longer be able to give priority to Catholic families. While a school may still have this provision in their current Admissions Policy (they haven’t had an opportunity to update their Policy), they cannot implement this part of their Admission Policy in practice from 3 October 2018. The DES has advised schools to strike through this enrolment criterion in their current enrolment policy.
This provision relates to the Equal Status Act, 2000. If a parent has a complaint that a Catholic primary school continues to give priority to Catholic families in admission, a parent must take that complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission (merged with the Equality Tribunal). This is not a matter that can be considered under Section 29 of the Education Act, 1998.
The Section 29 Appeals Administration Unit will monitor Appeal Application forms and will advise parents accordingly, when they should take their complaint/appeal to the Workplace Relations Commission.
