I have repeatedly asked during the past year about the Education (Admissions to School) Bill. The Bill consultation ended almost a year ago. We have been awaiting the legislative amendments. We are told continually that they are with the Attorney General.

While waiting for the Bill that would address the baptism barrier, we have divested several primary schools that are being run by Educate Together. In that context, it is bizarre that five of those schools, those in New Ross, Tramore, Trim, Tuam and Castlebar, are now being told that they can only take 13 pupils in each year. In Trim, there are five primary schools but only one multidenominational school. In New Ross, this new directive came as a shock to the school.

At the time of their establishment, the schools were not given any indication that such a restriction would be imposed on intake. When will the amendments to the Education (Admissions to School) Bill be published and when will the legislation be advanced? By what rationale are intake and parental choice being restricted in these schools?

As Deputy Howlin well knows, the original Bill on school admissions, which was introduced by the previous Government, did not deal with the baptism barrier or other concerns of Deputies, including the need to give the National Council for Special Education the power to designate a school that would have a special unit.

What about the Bill?

To accommodate these, we have been drafting new amendments and very good progress is being made with the Attorney General. The issues are delicate because they raise constitutional provisions and we must be insured to deal with them.

It has been a year.

It has not been a year. We are dealing with these issues.

On the issue of when the Department decides to build additional accommodation and sanction new schools, this is applied on the same basis in every one of the 314 planning areas. The Department will only sanction additional new schools where there is a scarcity of places in the area. We are not in a financial position to build additional schools just because people do not want the schools that are already in place.

The Government is forcing people to send their children to denominational schools.

Every one of the additional schools I have provided at primary level have been under either multidenominational or a non-denominational patronage.

Why is the Government capping their intake?

The position is the same in every area. We only build additional places as and when they are designated as required by demographics in the area.