THERE HAVE BEEN growing calls in recent months for the government to take action to open up more school options to non-religious families.

In Ireland, around 90% of schools continue to be run by the Catholic church, with a common complaint that families are having their children baptised for the purposes of later getting them into a school.

Last month, The Guardian carried a report about the difficulty accessing schools that some non-religious students face.

The newspaper spoke to the mother of a child who has had to return to nursery for another year after being unable to secure a school place.

Speaking on RTÉ’s The Ray D’Arcy Show earlier today, Minister for Education Jan O’Sullivan, said:

I would think that would be something that people would not want to do. I certainly would not be comfortable with the idea that people would baptise their children just to get them into school.

But what do you think? Would you baptise your child to ensure it got a school place?

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