26 October 2007

Ship of "faith based" schooling...

Hits rocks of hard reality... in the Emerald Isle.
-- LUCAN, Ireland -- While Ireland has maintained an "open door" policy to immigrants, poor planning in the dense suburbs outside Dublin and the nation's longstanding commitment to a faith-based education model have left many new residents on the margins of the education system.

It remains unclear that the Irish government has the vision to accommodate them.

"The battle for integration will be won and lost in the schools," Conor Lehihan, Ireland's minister of state for integration, said when he took the position in June.