85% agree that the school system in Ireland should be reformed

Choosing which school to send your children to is one of the biggest decisions you’ll make. According to RTÉ News a survey has revealed that, given the choice, 40 per cent of people would opt to send their kids to a non-Christian school. The study, conducted for organisation Equate which is campaigning for change in the Irish school system, involved one thousand adults who were presented with a list of statements. Almost 85 per cent agreed that the system ought to be reformed so that no child is excluded on the basis of their religion or non-religion. Over three quarters of those asked said that they believed that schools should not have the right to refuse admission to a child belonging to a different religion than that of the school’s patron. Twenty per cent said they knew someone who had baptised their child in a bid to guarantee access to a local school. At the moment, the majority of primary schools in Ireland are run according to religion, mainly by the Catholic Church.