The Education Minister, Richard Bruton (pictured), has launched a public consultation to reform the admissions system for primary schools.

Parents, religious groups and others will be able to have input into how schools admit pupils in the future.

Among the options includes an outright ban on religious schools using religion as a factor in admissions.

But the CEO of the Catholic Schools Partnership Ferdia Kelly says he doesn’t believe including religion – during the admissions process – is a form of discrimination: “I don’t believe it is a form of discrimmination.

“I believe it sets out as one a set of criteria, I think it is something that catholic school have been and will continue to look at,

“Hence we welcome the consultation process, hence we will be actively involved in the consultation process in a productive way.”