Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

The Department of Education and Science gives out the responsibility to run schools and manage and hire teachers, and we pay their salaries. We do not micro manage the day-to-day running of schools. That is as it should be. We have to make a distinction. In one instance where the Department was made aware that there was a difficulty within a school, it accepted responsibility and came to an arrangement. In the O'Keeffe case, the Department was never made aware of the issue, and therefore the responsibility lay with the school and the board of management. Therefore, there was a significant difference-----

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