Parents give false address in bid to get school entry
Monday April 02 2007
Some of the parents, who live outside the district of the school, are registering their child but using the address of their child-minder who lives in the correct catchment area for entry to the school.
The claim came from Fr Dan O'Connor, general secretary of the Catholic Primary Schools Managers Association.
Parish
"In some schools where there is over-subscription, where parents have a child-minder in the district, the child-minder will be in the parish but they won't be," he said. "They will give the child-minder's address and then all hell breaks loose."
As a result, parents have been asked to produce phone and gas bills in order to prove that they are from the area. They are also asked to produce baptismal certificates to show the child is Catholic.
It emerged yesterday that the former education secretary to the current Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, sent a memo in 2004 saying where there was over-subscription in schools, only Catholic students should be allowed in.
Schools are allowed to discriminate on religious grounds under the 1998 Education Act.
The 2004 memo was sent by Fr Seamus O'Brien. His successor in the position, Anne McDonagh, said schools looked for baptismal certs when they heard information that an application might be false.
"If there was pressure of someone getting into a school or if people particularly wanted to get into a particular school, it is very important for the board of management to make sure that all of the information on the forms is accurate," said Ms McDonagh.
In a statement yesterday, the Irish National Teachers Organisation said the minister for education and school management bodies needed to show leadership.
"The INTO believes that all children in an area should be able to attend a local primary school," the statement said. "If choice is limited, in a particular area then the education system needs to work out a modern approach that will accommodate all children and, in particular, deal with circumstances where children have no option but to attend the local denominational school."
Choice
CEO of Educate Together Paul Rowe said there was an on-going issue of lack of choice in the primary education system, especially in areas of rapid population growth. "There is a fundamental problem in that 98pc of schools are schools which are legally entitled to discriminate on religious grounds on access to enrolment," he said.
"What is wrong is that in almost all areas of the country, there is no alternative."
- Shane Hickey
