The number of cases of religious discrimination in schools coming before the Equality Authority is on the increase, it has emerged.
In one case, parents complained to the authority that their child, who was not of the religious denomination of the school's patron body, should be given alternative religious education, the authority's chief executive, Mr Niall Crowley, told The Irish Times.
That case was settled before reaching the Equality Tribunal.
Mr Crowley said schools were unaware of their obligations under the Equality Act and they needed to "go further" in a commitment to accommodating diversity on religious grounds. Schools had also failed to take on board their responsibilities to create policies which prevented harassment on religious grounds, he added.
The Equal Status Act prohibits discrimination in the provision of goods and services, including the educational establishment, on nine grounds, including religion.Schools admissions are exempt under the Education Act, which gives schools the right to refuse admission based on religion, if this is to maintain the ethos of the school.
Cases have been taken by pupils, their parents and teachers who believe they should not be forced to be indoctrinated in or to support the religious ethos of the patron bodies of schools.
However, the Equality Authority has already overturned this in the case of one Dublin secondary school, which set a quota on the number of Muslim girls it would admit. The authority ruled that under the Equal Status Act, the school could not refuse admission on the basis of religion.
The INTO said last night that schools had not received any information or guidance on equality legislation from either the Department of Education and Science or the Equality Authority.
It said while there was good will, "schools cannot be expected to gear up in a vacuum".
So far, all of the cases which have been taken under the Equal Status Act have been settled, which means the details cannot reach the public domain.
The ASTI has said it is unaware of any such cases and that religious formation is more a problem in primary schools. The religious programme in secondary schools is broad-based and diversity was working well, a spokeswoman stated.
While the INTO has demanded greater diversity in religious education, religious patron bodies see this as an undermining of their position.
Catholic, Church of Ireland and Muslim leaders have joined together to protest at this development, citing the Education Act, which allows patron bodies to determine the moral and religious education of pupils.
According to the Equality Authority, whatever the admissions policy, once a pupil is enrolled, schools cannot give "less favourable treatment" on the basis of religion.
Mr Crowley said the definition of "less favourable treatment" has yet to be defined in casework, since all cases so far have been settled. As things stand, a parent of a child in a denominational school who does not want the child to receive religious education can withdraw the child from those classes.
Obliging a parent to remove the child during religious education could be interpreted as less favourable treatment, Mr Crowley said.
The INTO said while it could be argued that a child was being treated less favourably in such cases, equally it could be argued that a parent, by enrolling a child in a denominational school, was consenting to the patron body's ethos.
The INTO's equality committee has produced a guide to the equality legislation which will be sent to all schools in the very near future. Last month it met the Equality Authority to discuss the authority's three-year strategic plan which emphasises education.