Many secondary schools appear to have a policy of excluding foreign national students from enrolling in them, the general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu), David Begg, said yesterday.
Mr Begg said it was hardly a coincidence that the vast majority of foreign national students were attending vocational schools rather than voluntary schools, which are privately owned and managed.
"The policy of excluding them is unfair and unreasonable. These schools need to have a fair, open and transparent admissions policy. The responsibility for meeting the requirements of international students should not be disproportionately focused on one sector of education.
"The new partnership agreement requires all schools to publish their admissions policy. All must play their part and I will be watching to ensure that these new developments do not cause any further elitism in education," he said.
Mr Begg was speaking at a lecture in a series organised by the Rathfarnham Catholic parish on the best way to integrate immigrants into Irish society.
On the issue of integration, he said our approach must strike a balance between the extremes of multiculturalism and assimilation.
"There is no need [for immigrants] to abandon all ties to a country of origin or to fall in with every aspect of the Irish way of life. It is, though, important that newcomers acknowledge that Ireland is not a random collection of individuals; they are joining a society, which, although hard to describe, is real enough.
"It is not enough to point out, as many multiculturalists do, that there is no simple moral consensus anymore. Perhaps this is true but then it seems to me that the political challenge is to create and sustain a minimum degree of moral consensus and solidarity in an otherwise pluralistic society. Diversity in itself is neither good nor bad, it is fairness that matters placed within a human rights framework," he said.
A Government decision to adopt the UN Convention on Migrants' Rights would help to achieve this, Mr Begg said.
While the treaty has been ratified by many countries, they are states which send rather than receive migrants. The principle at its core - of non-discrimination between indigenous and migrant workers - was important in ensuring more fairness in society.
He said Ireland had been fortunate in that its transition to becoming a country of immigration had been softened by two factors: a booming economy, and an influx of people from Europe who were culturally similar to the indigenous population.
Had these conditions not existed, Mr Begg said, he doubted that such a rapid change could have been accommodated with so little social dislocation.