The Archdiocese of Dublin is the patron of the vast majority of schools in Dublin and Wicklow as well as parts of Kildare, Wexford, Carlow and Laois, amounting to approximately 400 schools.

Many of these schools have traditionally operated enrolment policies which give preference to siblings of current pupils of the school known as "sibling first" policies.

Sibling first policies more or less ensure that younger children in a family will get into the same school as their older siblings.

The Archdiocese has instructed all schools under it's patronage to end sibling first policies and give the equal enrolment priority to children in the local catchment area.

This is a huge issue in oversubscribed schools as it means that younger siblings are at risk of not getting a place in the same school as their older sibling. This is wrong.

- It will cause uncertainty and distress for families for years to come

- It will be massively disruptive and upsetting for children who cannot get into the same school as their older siblings

- It will be a huge inconvenience and stress on parents who may have to drop and collect children at multiple schools

- It will be a large cost burden on parents who may have to buy separate sets of uniforms and make contributions to multiple schools

- It will seriously undermine the strong sense of family within the school community which we have always had in this country

- It is environmentally unfriendly and will increase traffic causing many more car journeys to be made to different schools

- It is particularly unsafe in the current pandemic to have children from one household unnecessarily attending multiple schools.

Schools must be free to offer priority enrolment to siblings of current pupils so that families can stay together and to keep the school community strong.

The Archdiocese must reverse it's decision to force the removal of sibling first policies.