Mr. Ken Fennelly:

On the parents' charter, the most recent mention of this in a big way in the public domain was by the former Minister at the National Parents Council primary, although there was no draft text or anything like that. Reflecting on how that might work, is the idea that the board would be accountable to the parents externally, as well as to the Department and its inspectorate and the patron? How would the mechanics of that work and how would it work legally? It will be challenged legally down the road if that is the case, and we have to be realistic about that. We would not want a situation where boards are open to litigation simply due to trying to do something in a positive way which would then expose the board. That would be a question I have, although I do not know the answer as I am just thinking aloud.

Deputy Daly referred to the length of service of appointees and chairpersons. That is a question for patrons to consider and answer. There is an issue about people staying on boards of management for years as chairpersons, but the converse of that is it is very difficult to get somebody to be a chairperson of a board of management and to serve and stay on. Usually, if somebody is there and happy to do it, that is great. There is a converse to that and if we were to bring in a time limit for serving as a chairperson of a board of management, that might introduced a problem. However, that is an issue for patrons to think about.