The top schools in the State, where the demand for places vastly outstrips supply, may find themselves with legal problems as the rejected challenge decisions on enrolment, writes Louise Holden
Top schools in the Republic of Ireland receive more applications from students than they have places. Even with an ageing demographic profile, schools that have a high record of transfer to university continue to work a waiting-list system that ultimately sees students being turned away.
Before 1998, schools were free to select students based on their own nebulous criteria - anything from IQ tests to family ties. The Education Act of 1998 placed a legal obligation on schools to publish their enrolment policies. Schools all over the State are now scrambling to get their policies in place - specialised legal advice is the order of the day.
The Equal Status Bill of 2000 laid down nine grounds on which a student could not be refused service by a service provider. Under Section 29 of the Education Act, students who feel that they have been refused entry to a school unfairly have the right to appeal the decision. Since Section 29 came into law in 2001, the number of appeals has risen from 29 to 165 last year. Post-primary schools are under particular pressure.
Niall Crowley, chief executive of the Equality Authority, forecasts a litigious future for the secondary-school system if admissions policies are not crystal clear.
"Section 29 appeals to date have mostly related to two of the nine grounds laid out in the Equal Status Act - disability and membership of the Travelling community. We have also had appeals on the grounds of race, religion and gender."
Derek West, principal of Newpark Comprehensive in Blackrock, Co Dublin, has dealt with several Section 29 appeals, two of which went all the way to committee stage. "The appeals process is gathering momentum. The potential impact on school management is mind-boggling. We are now working with a solicitor to draw up our enrolment policy and have been warned in a gentle way that we cannot exclude students with a disability even if we don't have the resources to support them. Neither can we employ positive discrimination to maintain gender balance at the school. We've had no appeals on the grounds of race or religion yet, but if there is a downturn in the economy and more students seek free second-level education, we could come under more pressure."
The Equal Status Act includes certain exemptions for schools in the areas of gender and religion, but they are vague and have yet to be tested. For example, schools are entitled to favour students of a certain religion in order to preserve the religious ethos of the school. However, in the event that a student takes a complaint of religious discrimination to the Equality Tribunal, the school authorities will have to prove that the admission of that particular student constitutes a threat to the entire ethos of the school. One school in south county Dublin recently attempted to restrict the number of Muslim students it enrolled in one year to five. A sixth student appealed the decision and the school agreed to admit him without proceeding to the Equality Tribunal on that occasion.
The Equality Authority has recently published guidelines for schools in relation to admissions, but, according to the authority's PRO, Patrick O'Neill, some areas will remain grey until the Act is tested.
"We have received some queries relating to the application of the Act in a school setting," O'Neill explains. "For example, where gender representation in co-educational schools is concerned, we would benefit from a case precedent." This has already become an issue in St Andrew's College in Booterstown, Co Dublin, where there are more than three applicants for every one place each year.
"We are currently redesigning our admissions policy to reflect new equality legislation," says the school's principal, Arthur Godsil. "Because we are a co-ed school, we cannot refuse students on the grounds of gender under the new legislation. However, if we were to achieve gender balance in the school, we would need to turn some students away on gender grounds."
Clonmel High School, Co Tipperary, was the subject of several appeals last year - principal Shay Bannon has since put a comprehensive local appeals process in place. A detailed admissions policy has been published, with the criteria for selection clearly laid out. Still, the reference to "a Roman Catholic education" and the "Christian ethos" of the school could be open to challenge in the future.
There are plenty of non-contentious criteria by which schools can select from a waiting list. Applicants from feeder schools and siblings of past and current students are often prioritised. In the Gaelscoileanna, which are punching above their weight in terms of university transfer rates, the waiting lists are particularly long. Eoin O'Tuama, principal of Coláiste an Phiarsaigh in Glanmire, Co Cork, uses primary school quotas to decide who gets in.
"Each of the local schools is allocated a quota of students who can move on to Coláiste an Phiarsaigh. If there are any places available after that, we give them to siblings of students or to children of past pupils. Obviously, it's important for students to come from a background where Irish is supported, so we factor that in too. After that, it's a lottery."
Mary McGlynn, chief executive of the National Association for Principals and Deputy Principals, says that principals have been placed in an invidious position. "The primary responsibility for admissions rests with the board of management and not with the principal, although principals are finding themselves playing an advisory role to the board. This is a dilemma for principals - this area is a legal minefield and principals are not lawyers."
