Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Mr. McLoughlin said that the Department will put the flesh on the charter and then it would go to consultation with working groups, which I presume will be students and parents. Then there will be individual charters by school, because obviously there cannot be a one-size fits all as there is huge variation in the make-up of school communities. How will the consultation with parents and students in the individual schools work? In the more disadvantaged areas it can be impossible to get a parent to turn up to a parent-teacher meeting. If it is a student council, often it is the most vulnerable, most needy child that does not put themselves up for election, so how will their voice be heard in that context?

I refer to Mr. Cotrell's remarks. Will it be the principal who will drive the individual charter in the school, as secretary to the board of management? I wholeheartedly agree that principals and senior management, due to the moratorium, are under serious work over-load. I am aware of a principal in a DEIS school who works as the principal, the assistant principal - which in this case is the year-head where there are huge pastoral care issues because it is a DEIS school - and is also now the student council teacher because they cannot get the B post replaced. When we talk about the welfare of students, there are huge issues that need to be addressed, and not just dealt with in the parent and student charter.

Ms Dempsey raised an interesting point that the balance of power is often with the board of management,. That is problematic when there is a perception that it is swayed by principals. Has the Department considered re-examining the make-up of boards of management? The reality is that some of the membership there hinges on which party wins in a local election because there would be public representatives on a lot of the boards of management.