Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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As the Minister knows, the board, students, parents and teachers of Clonkeen College were shocked and dismayed to discover last May that the Christian Brothers intended to sell their school playing pitches to property developers, despite previous promises from the Christian Brothers that the fields would be given to school in perpetuity as long as it continued to exist. Some €450,000 has been spent on draining the pitches and €260,000 was spent on fencing, including €120,000 of which was public money.

They are now even more shocked to discover that in response to their campaign, which involved appealing to the Minister and Christian Brothers not to do this to the school and steal their facilities from them the Edmund Rice Schools Trust, ERST, has now, in an act of purely vindictive retaliation against the campaigning of the school, threatened to dissolve the voluntary board of Clonkeen College. It is an absolutely extraordinary act of bullying by ERST against the school. The voluntary board is doing nothing more than trying to protect the interests of the school and its students. It is ERST which, incredibly, has claimed that the board is acting against the interests of the school when it is ERST which is acting against the interest of the school by threatening to take away the playing pitches and dissolve the school board.

As the Minister knows, the request to dissolve the board has to be approved by him. To put it bluntly, this is a moment of truth for the Government in terms of deciding which side it is on. I and the Minister know that the school is asking him to back the board and school and dismiss out-of-hand the outrageous suggestion that the board be dissolved by ERST. As the Minister knows, the members of the board have been forced to take very costly legal action to try to protect the pitches. The case will be heard in the High Court in March. They ask that not only the Minister reject the proposal to dissolve the board but that he back the board in its legal action against the congregation to protect the pitches for the school's students.

Not only is this important for the 500 students of the school and future generations of students, it will also affect students in the moderate to general learning disability facility. It was built recently and will be directly and very negatively impacted by the development proposal and plan to sell the pitches. St. John of God services in the area said that it was dismayed to hear about the planned sale of the sports fields and the negative impact this would surely have on students with disabilities. It went on to say that the change would have a dramatic negative impact on their environment as noise and other distractions would wreak havoc with their learning and greatly impede the teachers' ability to connect and teach. It implored the Minister to support the school and board. I ask that the Minister do that, and indicate that he will not agree to dissolve the board and instead support the school.

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I am a neighbour of Clonkeen College. My home is a few hundred metres away. My neighbours' children are pupils in the school. Many former pupils of mine have been educated there. Clonkeen College is an outstanding school with an excellent reputation and offers a comprehensive and holistic education to all its students, including a wide range of sports such as football.

I also want to draw attention to the special needs unit in the school. It serves children and allows them to access a special education which I understand needs to be delivered in a caring and special environment. I supported the special needs unit during my time as principal of The Harold School and have visited it. I have seen at first hand the great work which is carried out within the special needs unit. I know from first-hand experience how well the school has been managed and its competent board of management.

The Department and taxpayer, as is well known, has invested over €10 million in its development and enhancement in recent years. I want to put on the record of the House that I have worked tirelessly since last summer to facilitate a resolution to this issue. I arranged a meeting between the Minister for Education and Skill, the principal, members of staff, board and Department to which I invited Deputy Boyd Barrett and other elected representatives. I subsequently met the school principal, board of management and individual parents, pupils and stakeholders on numerous occasions. I have communicated with stakeholders and the school principal, often on a biweekly basis and, in some cases, on a weekly basis.

I understand the statutory responsibilities of the Minister for Education and Skills in this process. However, as an elected Member for Dún Laoghaire and a former school principal in the area who spent 31 years of my career in educating children, I still believe that talks between both sides is the best route forward. As a local Deputy, I am available to do whatever I can to bring both sides back to the table.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I am very much aware of the concern of the Deputy which has been expressed on a number of occasions in the House. As the Minister of State, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor, said I met parents and the board of the school. Genuine efforts have been made to resolve differences, but they have not been fruitful to date.

The position has changed to an extent, in that two things have occurred. I understand the board of management has taken a legal case in respect of the sale of the land and that case is due to be heard in the High Court in March. Clearly, it would be inappropriate for me to speculate about the outcome of that matter which is before the court.

Separately, I have been informed by my Department officials that the patron of Clonkeen College, ERST, has now sought approval to dissolve the board of management of the college in accordance with section 16 of the Education Act 1998. I understand that request is connected to the legal case taken by the board of management regarding the sale of the land. However, the statutory process of dissolution is under way and, as Minister for Education and Skills, I must take a decision having considered the submissions made on all sides.

I have a statutory duty to consider the request in accordance with the provisions of that Act and it would be inappropriate for me to comment on matters which are related to the dissolution. To make such a comment would be to prejudge a statutory function which I, as Minister, must now discharge, having received the best legal advice. I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and giving me the opportunity to outline the position as it now stands.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Expressions of concern about this are not enough. We have an extraordinary situation which could have been resolved if the Minister told the Christian Brothers that it is not taking the pitches to pay off the redress scheme because that is punishing future generations of kids for the crimes of the Christian Brothers against past generations of kids. The Minister should have done that at the beginning.

This also raises the extraordinary situation whereby schools which are publicly funded are run by patron bodies which, it seems, are accountable to nobody. They are not accountable to the Government which funds them.

It is absolutely ridiculous. Now ERST, which is supposed to be protecting the interests of the school, is threatening to dissolve a school board which has been exemplary. There should be no question of its being dissolved as its members have defended the interests of the school and its playing pitches. The board should be commended and the Minister should get behind it, by telling the Christian Brothers and ERST where to get off. In what sense is ERST acting in the interests of the school? It is demanding to sell lands for €18 million to pay a debt which is only €9 million so where is the rest of the money going? Is there a conflict of interest here? What are ERST and the brothers going to do with the rest of the money?

The Minister needs to get off the fence and tell the Christian Brothers there is no way we will dissolve a board which has done fantastic work to defend the school. He also needs to step in to resolve this in a way that secures the pitches for the school for the future.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Education Act outlines the powers I have as Minister, as well as the powers I do not have. Many powers which the Deputy wishes I had are powers which I do not have. However, I have one very important power under section 16 of the Act, where I have to adjudicate on a proposal by a patron to dissolve a board. I will do this in a way that is fair to all sides. I will not comment on anyone's interests or motivations as I have to evaluate those fairly, hearing all sides. That is the way I am going to approach this.