Dublin, Ireland, Oct 5, 2018 / 09:09 am
A new law in the Republic of Ireland will prohibit primary schools from taking religion into account in admissions, a practice known as the "baptism barrier."
Previously, when a religious school was full, the admission process to determine which students would move off the waiting list could take religion into account.
The decision to ban Catholic schools from prioritizing Catholic students on wait lists is being criticized as discriminatory, since it would not apply to other religious schools. The Catholic Church runs more than 90 percent of schools in Ireland, which also receive government funds.
Although Catholic schools will no longer be able to use religion as a deciding factor in admissions, schools of minority religious groups, such as the Church of Ireland, can still use religion as a deciding factor to protect their ethos.