Northern Ireland Conservatives’ spokesperson, Annika Nestius-Brown, has hit out at suggestions that pupils from Northern Ireland should not get priority when places are allocated in Northern Ireland’s schools. Sinn Féin Education Minister, John O’Dowd, wants children in the Republic to be given identical rights to free nursery, primary and post-primary provision here.
“Following on from the Executive’s decision to penalise students from other parts of the UK who want to study in universities in Northern Ireland, this is another piece of patent absurdity”, Annika said. “The minister actually wants a situation where children from Northern Ireland, whose parents pay their taxes to maintain the education system, could miss out on attending their chosen school in favour of children from south of the border.”
“John O’Dowd suggests that his review is aimed at making legislation comply with European Law. This must be the first recorded instance of a Sinn Féin representative championing EU diktat!”
“This review is prompted only by the party’s fanatical all-Ireland agenda, which always manages to trump considerations of fairness, value for money, good governance or common sense. There isn’t a problem with the status quo. There isn’t a serious challenge to the status quo. And it is absolutely shocking that the minister is attempting to replace a sensible, fair system with something that is absurd and inequitable.”