There is an ongoing row here about Catholic schools enrollment policy. It came to the fore because there was a 'multi-denominational' school where all the students were black. Catholic primary schools here operate a "Catholics and Siblings 1st" policy. If there's a squeeze for places Catholics get precedence. The overwhelming majority of primary schools here are Catholic but State-funded. It looks like there might be a legal challenge to their policies but, as usual here the legislation is a mess.
what I'm interested in is if you think state-funded schools run by the Catholic Church should be allowed to discriminate based on religion.
I am completely ignorant of internal Irish governmental policies, so my questions will probably demonstrate my ignorance.
Why are the Catholic schools state-funded?
Are other denominational schools state-funded?
Are these public or private schools?
Could these schools survive without state-funding?
Historically, all the primary schools in this country were set up by the Catholic Church. But even when new ones are built by the state they are usually run by the Catholic Church.
Not sure about other denominations.
They are public schools.
they could not survive without state funding.
The fact that the Fifth Amendment of your Constitution removed the special status of the Catholic Church within Ireland and the schools are state-funded, I would say no. However, my opinion is a highly uninformed one as I know little about your country, but on the surface this is how it appears.
That is my opinion also.
What percentage of Ireland is Catholic? In the US, where there are many religions with none having a majority, such a policy probably wouldn't work. Ireland, if what I have read and heard is correcy, is heavily Catholic so the issue might be viewed differently.
Ireland is heavily catholic (not sure of percentages. I don't see that as significant.
Obviously Catholics have no problem drawing lines. The Pope declares all non-Catholics as not true Christians.
Should it be allowed? Depends on the gov't. In the US we have a seperation of C&S to avoid this (though many Dominionist-types would like to blur that line).
This is why the US stresses secularism for new democracies, to avoid this mess.
Again, I agree.
