Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

I think the Minister is. Section 10 gives the Minister the right to recognise patrons which in this case is an existing patron. There is considerable legal opinion to the effect that it does not have to go through all the hoops again to be recognised given that it is already recognised in the primary school sector.

This is a very important intervention by the Minister because the legal question has never been raised before. If he is now putting this on the table, one can only come to the conclusion that this matter will be long-fingered once again.

The Minister said in his reply that he will speak to Educate Together about this soon. Will he give a timeframe given that his assistant secretary, Mr. Wyse, mentioned weeks at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Science? Is the Minister holding this back or are there other elements in his Department doing so? 4 o'clock

See this speech in context