Dr. Niall Muldoon:

I believe so, and I look forward to seeing it happen. It will not stop all the complaints we get because they would be dealing with certain levels, but I believe that will make a structural difference to the way we work. Also, consistent, clear and comprehensive complaint handling available in all schools across the country would have made a huge difference; that is section 28 of the Education Act. That would change the way we would deal with complaints.

As regards compellability and having real teeth and power versus encouragement, as the Deputy stated, if we go back to the starting point, the essence of ombudsmanship is to work on the element of encouragement because we are supposed to be an alternative to courts. As Deputy McConalogue stated, there are two choices; go to the Ombudsman or go to court. We want to avoid the need for people to go to court because that is very much dependent on funding. We are a free alternative to court and offer an impartial and fair assessment of the issues and concerns.

In terms of compellability, as has been seen in many other countries around the world where they did not use the ombudsman system, if the process is made compellable people automatically start "lawyering up". It goes from a complaint that could be worked on, negotiated and fixed at a local resolution level straight to a court scenario and the parent who does not have that sort of funding is automatically disadvantaged. Our job is to fight for those people in that situation regardless of their financial setting. We seriously disadvantage young people and children in that situation. I guarantee that the boards of management the member is concerned about are the ones who will quickly go to lawyers. That is one of the major drawbacks. It means that we have to work a little harder on relationships with individual boards, schools and the Department of Education and Skills. We are constantly working with the Irish Primary Principals' Network, the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals, NAPD, and the various agents that work within the education system. We try to create relationships to allow us facilitate change and local resolution, where necessary. That takes a bit longer. It may not be as high profile as a strong-hitting court case but it creates a great deal of energy and results in many changes that we will never be able to publicise.

The real strength of ombudsmanship is that moral suasion that comes to bear. Some of the biggest changes that happened around the world were done in that scenario rather than in a court case. In terms of many of the Department of Education and Skills interactions, one of the biggest fears is that it will end up in court. The only time something gets changed is that fear of court, and that is something we want to make sure does not happen. We want the changes to happen on the ground and as my director stated, we make many small changes throughout the country. From my point of view, therefore, that is where we are at now. I believe we have the remit and the facilities to do it. The system we oversee needs to change. That is where there is a real gap in terms of the board of management and, as people have asked, who deals with that board of management? We can deal with the boards of management in terms of the way they administer their schools and work on their policy and procedures. We can make sure they have the right policies and procedures and that they are fair and used in the right way, but we cannot necessarily follow through on how they spend their money and deal with certain decisions. That is a drawback that needs to be examined.

In my presentation to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, I said that there needs to be a recalibration in terms of the autonomy of schools and the responsibility of the State in that regard. I am not quite sure how that will look. This might be the start of a conversation that will allow that to happen but there is a sense that, where necessary, we can go to the Department of Education and Skills and tell them we believe there has been a failure but they will tell us they cannot do anything about the board of management. My suggestion is that the education ombudsman would have no difference in that regard. My sense of that is that the system is flawed. I think that covers Deputy McConalogue's questions and I will try to cover the other questions also.