Hildegarde Naughton (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses. Given the responsibilities of boards of management, are they ever legally responsible for any act or omission within a school or is it the patron or the Department that takes the risk? The training of boards of management was referred to by Ms McElduff. Do boards receive training currently on risk management and corporate governance and, if so, who provides it? Ms McElduff referred to the uptake of training. Can she elaborate on that? Something needs to be done with regard to training and assistance.

On complaints procedures, many schools operate the standard INTO model to handle complaints against teachers while other schools adopt their own policies. What are the views of the bodies represented here today on adopting a standard complaints procedure?

Have the implications of the O'Keeffe judgment been considered with regard to the responsibilities of boards of management, the Department and patrons? It is a very important issue. The European Court of Human Rights judged that the State was liable, but here we are hearing that boards of management have huge responsibility in the day-to-day running of schools. There is a significant grey area that must be dealt with. I would be very interested to hear the witnesses' views of the implications of the judgment.