Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We will discuss the education and training board functions in Dublin. The rationale for inviting representatives of Kilkenny and Carlow, Limerick and Clare and Mayo education and training boards is that some of them have been performing poorly with regard to their accounts and we want to bring in some of the tardy boards. However, I also asked the secretariat to choose the best education and training board and Kilkenny and Carlow Education and Training Board seems to be doing its business properly. If it can do things right, why can the rest of them not do things right too? We want to pick out some elements of good practice and tell the other boards they do not have any excuses because their counterparts elsewhere are doing things right. We want to have a contrast. Rather than bringing in the bottom half of the class, to use an educational term, we are bringing in examples of good practice. In addition to having representatives of Kilkenny and Carlow Education and Training Board, we should bring in representatives of one of the other education and training boards to which I referred. Deputy Kelly favours having representatives of Tipperary Education and Training Board come to the meeting, while Deputy McDonald favours having representatives of Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board come before us. I ask the Deputies to explain the rationale for their position and we will talk it through.