Ms Sinéad Brett:

Reference was made to parental complaints. There is an agreed procedure which has been referenced in presentations already. That procedure, like all other procedures that schools use, is underpinned with the principles of natural justice and fair procedures. I deal with principals and chairpersons of boards of management on a daily basis. I advise boards in respect of dealing with parental complaints.

Parents are perfectly entitled to raise whatever issues they have with school management and, in the vast majority of cases, those complaints are dealt with satisfactorily. What the member is pointing to are specific circumstances and situations but the vast majority of complaints are dealt with satisfactorily by boards of management. It is a board as a corporate entity - all eight members coming together - dealing with issues when it gets to that stage in the procedure.