Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Of the 10,000 cases investigated by the Ombudsman for Children, 6,000 related to governance of schools and management issues. That paints its own picture of the issue. I do not care how small the number of complainants may be; they have a right to recourse. I have heard nothing today to counter the view that they do not currently have recourse. The Louise O'Keeffe judgment is very interesting because, notwithstanding the fact that it was a different time, the issue remains that boards of management are aloof and isolated from what I would call the law of the country when things go wrong. We all appreciate that the vast majority are going fine.

In regard to time limits for chairpersons, it is a vicious cycle, because if boards of management were given real power and decision making abilities, more talent would be encouraged to join them. I stand over my comments about rubber-stamping for principals, because when one uses the lingo of education and all that goes with it, it is possible to drown people out on contentious issues.

It was interesting to observe JobBridge from a distance. I do not believe there was one board of management in the entire country that saw fit to prevent the vested interest of the union from superseding that of the school community. Boards could have stood up as representatives of the students and expressed their belief that an additional teacher would be beneficial for the school concerned. To my knowledge, it has not happened in any school in this country that a board went against the wishes of a principal who was a member of INTO. That illustrates my argument very starkly.

I understand that minutes of board of management meetings are not made available to parents. Openness and transparency are important. I am glad we started the debate today and I am sure we will be returning to it in future.