CONCERN that schools could in years to come be taken over by religious fundamentalists, was voiced by Mr Joe O'Toole (Ind). He was criticising the exempting of religious and medical institutions from the Employment Equality Bill.

The Minister for Equality and Law Reform, Mr Taylor, argued that the originally controversial provision, as replaced in the Dail, represented a reasonable and measured balance between the very different views on this most complex issue.

Mr O'Toole said it continued to be a source of terror and fear to decent teachers and nurses. His worry was that in 15 years, when there were no longer enough religious or clerical people to run the existing schools, they would be turned over to fundamentalists, who would decide what the ethos would be. That would result in havoc.

Mr O'Toole said we were in effect endowing religious institutions. We were saying a certain course of action could be taken against someone who was undermining schools, which would pose dangers for anybody in relationships which were deemed to be irregular.

He did not think the churches or national organisations would create problems in this regard, but this legislation would be available to priests in charge of the remotest parishes. There was a danger that pivotal decisions could be taken in the back rooms of out of the way presbyteries and that no power in the land could prevent it.