Mr. David Ruddy:

The role of a school principal is ultimately about the welfare of children. It is about teaching and learning in a school community and we take it very seriously. No school is perfect and we know that as an association because boards of management are not perfect. They were introduced in 1975. As an organisation, we feel that there is significant room for reform there, and I can empathise with the committee's frustration at times. We make significant efforts to encourage the best possible practice. When we talk about 2% or whatever the percentage of schools where there is a difficulty, we feel parents should be able to put their case to a formal body. In fairness to the Ombudsman for Children's office, about which I recently wrote in our magazine and whose powers many of our colleagues were not aware of, it has dealt with over 3,000 complaints. We have 4,000 schools. One complaint related to special needs education where the parents were unhappy with the way the child was being resourced. The Ombudsman for Children's office was not afraid to come in and slap down the school's board of management on the basis that the special educational needs policy was outdated. It advised the school on a new policy. Ultimately, the Ombudsman for Children's office approached it very well and the outcomes were good in the end.

Deputy Jim Daly's Bill has much to commend it but we are not afraid of scrutiny. We have the inspectorate, which is part of the DNA of schools. We have educational welfare officers and the Teaching Council of Ireland and that is all good. Ultimately, if we see another body doing the work the Ombudsman for Children's office can do, why introduce another layer? By all means, everything that happens in a school should be scrutinised. Ultimately, it is the relationship between the primary educators, who are the parents, and the school that drives on things. Every school aspires to the best. There are some good points in the Education (Amendment) Bill but we just do not like the way it will create another layer. If the good parts are taken out of it and given to the Ombudsman for Children's office, we will be happy with that.