Mr. Martin Hanevy:

I will begin with the question on post leaving certificate courses because it is an issue which can be addressed, and I made a point in my truncated presentation. The Minister is taking a regulatory power. We published the regulations so everyone could see the thrust of what was being done, but they are fundamentally focused on entry to second level. There are subset issues, such as arrangements in special schools and interviews for post leaving certificate courses which is about guidance for the students as to the correct course to take. An interview for a post leaving certificate course is not one which could be a soft barrier to admission. One of the issues we are trying to deal with is soft barriers. We do not believe parents should be subjected to interviews which might be a soft barrier to getting the child enrolled. Clearly there is a valid educational reason for interviews for post leaving certificate courses.

With regard to the issue of an independent appeals process, section 28 of the Act is all about the desirability of resolving grievances and issues locally and local appeals processes. As the 1998 Act is structured, section 29 only kicks in when local processes are exhausted. A section 29 committee should not examine an enrolment issue until local appeals have been executed.

At the beginning, of all the issues which could cause grievance between parents, students and schools, three elements were include section 29. These are expulsion of a child, suspension of a child and enrolment of a child. The first two of these are life-changing and significant events. The argument we have put forward in the discussion document, and again here, is the wide broad brush of including enrolment. There are two types of enrolment problems. The first is where a child has been refused enrolment by a range of schools, including oversubscribed schools but also schools which are not oversubscribed. Ms Griffin spoke about a particular case of which she was aware. The second category is those affected by supply and demand, which is applicable to everyone. We believe there is a better remedy for a child who cannot get any place. Instead of a parent being dragged around appeals committees in the case of special needs children, we implement the original power included in EPSEN and create a power for the National Educational Welfare Board. At present the board petitions schools and assesses and asks with regard to a child who cannot get a place, but it has no ultimate reserve power when it gets the runaround from schools to find a place for the child. This is why children at risk are out on home tuition without a place. Rather than putting people through multiple appeals an ultimate call must be made on what is reasonable in the locality with regard to a school taking a child.

The other problem is oversubscription. This is the case for most third level courses and we do not need a statutory appeals process because parents and students have certainty and belief in the process and they know the criteria. We argue this should be replicated for oversubscribed schools whereby people know the criteria upfront and are told where they fit, and they have information on how far down the list they are. For instance, at Dr. Fennelly's school the first priority is to enrol Protestants. Last year the school spent 70% of its places on this and then went on to geographical boundaries. The people outside of these criteria would know the situation with clarity.

The appeals process at school level in the case of oversubscription is about whether the person was treated correctly under the criteria and a parent appealing would have to show an error was made. One would like to think a school would correct an error without any appeal because it would want to do so. Section 29 was probably included by the Minister's predecessors in the Oireachtas in 1998 in the belief it would be light touch and easy for parents.

However, it has proved litigious, heavy in terms of documentation and a significant burden on a parent attempting to go through the process.