Joe O'Toole (Independent)

The Leader of the House will recall a famous case in County Longford some years ago. A school was taken to court even though it had followed the appropriate process as it understood it. All sorts of comments, letters and statements were issued which caused a great deal of trauma for all involved. The school authorities emerged satisfactorily from the traumatic process which was a huge imposition for them. It was unfair on them. I welcome this Bill because it will make it far less likely for such a case to take place again. If somebody appeals a decision, the first thing the judge will ask will be what domestic remedies were put in place. If those remedies took the form of a process and an appeal, the courts will be slow to intervene. Nothing further will be possible in such circumstances unless people opt for some sort of judicial review. The courts will again be slow to intervene in that case. If people follow the process, I believe it will be soundly held.

We need to focus on what we want to achieve as we try to strike a balance between giving authority and confidence to schools so they can deliver educational services to all their pupils, who must be the focus of our efforts, and putting in place measures for dealing with the problems which can arise in classrooms. We cannot lose sight of the needs of the 30 or more pupils who are not involved in the cases with which we are dealing. We will not mention the issue of class sizes tonight.