Diarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join Senator Brennan in congratulating my fellow Cavan man, Aogán Ó Fearghail, on his installation as president of the GAA. It is a proud occasion for Aogán and his family, for his local club in Drumgoon, for the people of County Cavan and for the people of Ulster. He is the first Cavan person to hold this position in the 131-year history of the GAA. I am sure he will do an excellent job over the next three years.

I join Senator Craughwell in asking the Leader to invite the Minister for Education and Skills into the House, not only to discuss the circular to which he referred on what ultimately is a diktat from the Department as to who the chairperson of the ETBs should be. There has always been a democratic process that the membership of the VECs, now ETBs, selected their own chairperson. In the main, those chairpersons have done an excellent job in representing the educational board for which they were responsible, whether those concerned were members of staff or not. Generally, they are not members of staff. I agree with Senator Craughwell that members of staff or, if I heard him correctly, anyone associated with a member of staff, should not be prevented from being chairpersons of these boards. We are living in what is left of a democracy and that should be left up to the membership of the ETBs.

I ask the Leader, when he is inviting the Minister, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, into the House, that she would also address the position on the proposed changes to the junior certificate. She has now taken a decision to go ahead with implementing these changes while ignoring the practitioners, namely, the teachers, who will have to implement them. This cannot work unless the teachers are on board.