Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Our education system has long been structured on the basis that schools are sponsored by religious and other patrons and run by local management on their behalf. Since the enactment of the relevant legislation, legal responsibility in this regard is vested in boards of management. The courts found in four separate cases that the Department of Education and Science was not liable for abuse that occurred in schools. I accept that the State is not legally responsible for what happened. That does not make matters any less awful for the people concerned, but the legal issue involved here is that the Department is not responsible.

See this speech in context