Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

Is the Minister not utterly embarrassed by the fact that the Department of Education and Science, over a period of five years, chose to do nothing while this school was in crisis? Is he not utterly embarrassed by the fact that nothing was done about these problems, even though they were flagged by the Department's inspectorate and the Irish National Teachers Organisation as long ago as 2003, 2004 and 2005? The entire teaching staff of the school resigned en bloc because of the crisis the school found itself in. Does this not highlight the utterly dysfunctional hands-off approach of the Minister and the Department, which failed to intervene at a much earlier stage in this school and possibly in other schools throughout the country?

Does the Minister accept that it took five years for the Department to introduce new measures in the school to ensure that its children are protected and, more importantly, receive the same standard of education we would expect to be given to any other child in the country? Does he accept that an utter disaster befell the school in question because of his failures and those of the Department of Education and Science?

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