Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

I propose an amendment to the Order of Business that the Minister for Education and Science be facilitated to come to the House to clarify, for all the partners in education, the position regarding the fall-out from the recent decision in the Louise O'Keeffe law case. The Minister and the Department have washed their hands of responsibility in this case, and that is not good enough. The onus is on the Minister to come to the House and clarify the position for all the partners. A situation has arisen where many members of boards of management are querying why and for how long they can remain on those boards. That the letter was sent out by the Chief State Solicitor's office, at the behest of the State Claims Agency, in advance of Louise O'Keeffe knowing about it is no excuse for abdicating responsibility to her. When we compare the obligations on her now with the obligations the then Minister, Deputy Woods, had in 2002 regarding the religious and what happened in that case, how can we reconcile the current Minister's position?