The Minister for Education has said he will not remove the clause that allows schools to discriminate on the basis of religion.

Richard Bruton has said the law will not be changed as part of his new plans for overhauling school admissions.

The previous government’s plans did not include amending the Equal Status Act, which allows discrimination on religious grounds.

Richard Bruton has said he is planning his own new rules on school admissions, but he will not change the law either: “It won’t be part of the admissions bill that I publish soon.

“But obviously it is something the Dail will have to debate its approach to this, in truth, there is constitutional protection for religious within our constitution and the last Oireachtas committee recognised that there is a difficulty here so I think that has to be recognised.”