Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am very anxious to accommodate everybody in this Chamber, as we did in the other Chamber. In a way, this is a much better Chamber in which to express what I am about to say now because it has direct experience of it. There are panels for election to this Chamber to which I was once elected. To follow up on what the Leas-Chathaoirleach has explained, there is only one unique three county combination. There are three local authorities in other combinations but I refer to Limerick city and Limerick county. Leitrim, Mayo and Sligo are unique in that sense and we will have to find a way to overcome that. In anticipation of the local elections and the formation of the new education and training boards, ETBs, one could invite expressions of interest from parents who qualify, that is, who have a young person or persons in school in any one of the three counties now made up into an education and training board. The expressions of interest could be confined to a certain number. I will not prescribe what it will be. One could then sign off on it and certify through a statutory instrument that 12 or 15 names from the National Parents Council, NPC, nominees for ETB No. 1, 2 or 3, to stick with the example we are looking at, would be chosen, allowing for gender balance. It would then be up to the elected councillors to decide who they would be. That is what we are doing with the five additional ones. We will have to look at ways in which we can do that.

I extend an invitation to all Members of the House to come back to me with a proposal for the operational functioning of the system so that in advance of the elections, parents who are serious ? we want committed parents ? could express an interest and go through an NPC process that people understand and know. The parent representatives could only come from that panel by virtue of being elected. The 12 county councillors from the local authority are elected. The staff representative would be appointed from within the democratic process within the new ETB and perhaps ? I am thinking on my feet without prescribing a direct model ? those 12 plus two would be required to elect from a selected panel of parent representatives who meet the criteria. That accords with what we are doing in terms of the business interest, learners and others. I invite all Members of the House to consider the issue.

The reason I wish to be as inclusive as possible is because the infrastructure will have responsibility for the delivery of education at local level for the next 30 or 40 years. Many changes are occurring on the ground in terms of the educational partnership arrangements we have in place currently. From my point of view, the more democratic legitimacy and local engagement the better. Therefore, if we get it right by consensus, it will be all the stronger and all the better for it.