Minister for Education Mary Hanafin has admitted that some schools are not assuming their responsibilities in enrolling children of all backgrounds and needs.
The department has published an 80-page audit of enrolment practice.
The document shows that one in 13 primary school pupils and one in 20 secondary school students are classified as non-English or Irish speaking.
Over half of primary and secondary schools were surveyed for the audit. It was undertaken to examine the disparities that exist in schools in relation to the number of students who are immigrants, members of the Traveller community or have special educational needs.
English or Irish is not the first language for almost 8% of primary pupils and nearly 5% of secondary students. Between 1% and 2% of students at both levels are members of the Traveller community.
About one in ten school children has special educational needs, but the audit revealed certain clusters.
In small mixed vocational educational schools in the western region, just over half of the students have special needs. However there are no such students at all-girls secondary schools in the mid-western region with an enrolment of 400 to 450.
Ms Hanafin has written to the education partners querying whether some school enrolment policies are exclusionary, and whether parents know their rights should a school refuse to enrol their children.
Responding to the publication of the audit, Amnesty International has called for parents to be empowered to challenge schools with discriminatory enrolment policies.
The organisation also said that the State must assume
ultimate legal responsibility for upholding the right of every child in Ireland to an education of the highest possible standard.
