Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Regarding ETBs, while parents' representatives are to be nominated by national associations of parents, those nominated must themselves be parents of children registered as students in an ETB facility. This is a considerable improvement on the current position whereby parents of registered students do the electing but the representatives themselves do not need to be parents of students in VEC schools. To underline this, by virtue of section 31, a person will cease to be an ETB member if he or she ceases to have a child attending an ETB institution. Therefore, I do not propose to accept Deputy McConalogue's amendments.

Turning to amendment No. 60, the Bill provides that the Minister may give directions to a committee of an ETB that acts as the board of management of a school or centre for education. These directions may include a requirement that members of those committees must live within a certain distance of the school. The direction can specify that, if it is not possible to find an ETB member within the specified distance, such a committee can consist entirely of non-members.

The Department has taken a policy decision to the effect that living in the locality is, all other elements being equal, a more important factor than being an ETB member. It is important and of paramount concern that local voices be heard on these governance structures. A school is of a specific area and community. Schools draw their board of management members from their localities. There is no reason that ETB schools should be any different in this respect. The board will still have nominees on these committees, but it is not essential that these nominees be members of the board. I do not intend to accept this amendment.