Ms Tina Merron:

Perhaps I can clarify on the matters regarding the Department of Education. The current system within the department maintains the status quo. It should also be borne in mind that the number of children has dropped in Norther Ireland, so we have too many school places and schools. It is very hard to grow against that background.

Generally, the Department of Education does not ask parents what they want for the future. Parents assume that of what they have got, that is the choice. Therefore, if you do not have an integrated school in place, you are not going to get one. It has to be up to parents to start that themselves.

The transformation of a school from a maintained or controlled school to integrated education is a long process. I would like to see the process speeded up, but it requires the school to think about the changes and bring the parents with them as well. The parents are part of that process. First, they have to vote it through on a parental ballot. They get that opportunity to vote their school to transform. They then want to be part of the process. They have to think through what they want to do, such as what sports they want to bring and what changes they want to make. That change takes time. The slowness is probably, in regard to the Department of Education, in approving that. That usually takes about two years; that would probably be the period of time. However, the school will take longer in bringing in the changes.

The department just assumes it knows what parents want. That is the status quo and nothing will change. That would be the exact same for the Irish-medium sector as well. It would have the same problem because it is also like the integrated movement in that it does not have a publicly-funded statutory body to support it.