Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I welcome the proposal to make the ERC a body under section 54 of the Education Act 1998. The Minister examined a number of options, including whether to bring the centre under the aegis of the Department, but the route she is going down is the most prudent. The centre will maintain its independence and will have a governance structure, which is important. The Minister gave us a list of the staff involved in the briefing notes she provided to members. There are a director, research fellows, research associates and so on and there will be no additional costs in transferring the centre to a corporate body. Will the board of the centre be appointed by the Minister? Does she know the type and number of personnel she wants to put on the board?

The centre does valuable research work, which we have seen, particularly in respect of DEIS and the National Council for Special Education, NCSE. The Department has even availed of it for the research it has done. Does the centre have a strategic plan for the next five years? How does it decide research areas? Is that solely down to the centre itself or does it examine international models? Is the research solely based on our education system and doing research into that?