Hildegarde Naughton (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for Education and Skills to the House to debate the respective responsibilities and liabilities in the primary school sector, and the sector's interaction with the State. I am delighted that Ms Louise O'Keeffe received the result she deserved in the European Court of Human Rights. All the Members of this House can unite in praise of her determination in fighting what must have been insurmountable odds. As a legislator and teacher, I very much welcome the outcome and the clear decision that the state actor, our State, had a clear duty of care towards Ms O'Keeffe and others. The State, during the term of the current Government, has not been slow to admit the mistakes of the past and I hope it will do so again. This case, however, throws into sharp focus our system of primary education and its myriad contradictions. The State has a constitutional obligation to provide primary education for free. Through historical agreement, the State has always fulfilled its obligations by providing funding to privately managed schools or schools of a religious ethos supervised by a patron. The State trains the teachers, sets the curriculum, pays the wages, inspects educational standards and maintains the schools. The local school, under religious patronage of whatever variety, employs the teacher and decides who gets in. Heretofore, the State was able to avoid any liability for abuse on the basis of not having any liability in tort law as it was not the employer. The patron was the employer. Although the judgment is but a day old and requires comprehensive analysis, it appears the State may now have liability for each case of abuse that occurred or may again occur.