Sir, – It is the case that a secondary school may admit students of its own religious denomination in preference to others, where there exists oversubscription.
However, the Workplace Relations Commission recently determined that a multidenominational school in Dublin should not prioritise the admission of Church of Ireland students ("Dublin school discriminated against Catholic student, commission finds", News, December 23rd). The school's admissions policy states this exists to "protect the rights of this minority, thus ensuring that a significant number of this community could be educated together".
While the school patron is the Education and Training Board (ETB), there is representation in the school’s governance from local religious denominations. It is disappointing that a school should be ordered to remove from its admissions policy what is a protection for a religious minority, especially when the educational landscape allows for this across the denominational secondary sector. – Yours, etc,
KIERAN SPARLING,
Corbally,
Limerick.