My child (who will be 4 in February) will start school in Sept 2016, not sure where yet, could be in a Catholic school :roll: As a pre-emptive strike, I'm thinking it would be a good idea to educate her over the coming year just a little about the VERY BASICS of what religion is, why it exists, and ...

Ruairi was interviewed on Today with Pat Kenny this morning. There was some discussion of third-level fees, Irish language and other education issues, and general party & government issues, but no discussion of education & secularism.

Enda is calling out the names now. The new minister for Education is... (drum roll)

Ruairi Quinn!

If the new government is FG/Labour and Labour gets the Dept of Ed, we might have a chance. "Fine Gael is likely to be allotted the environment and enterprise and employment ministries, with Labour filling education and social protection. ... Ruairí Quinn being mentioned as a possible minister for e...

What happens if, say, the nearest school that would take your child is a long way away.

Is there a Dept of Education requirement that some school within N km of your home MUST take your child?

Is there a difference between cities and small towns? If you live in a small town with one (catholic) primary school, presumably it will accommodate all children from the town, whether catholic, atheist, immigrant, etc. But in a city, where there may be 5 schools in the local area (say 4 catholic an...