Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is very welcome. Ennis Educate Together national school was founded in 1998. In recent years there have been revelations about shocking and long-standing failures of school management. There are also serious questions for the school patron, and it gives me no pleasure to say that as I have long been a firm supporter and advocate of Educate Together. These revelations have come out largely thanks to the courage of a former deputy principal at the school, who is with us in the Gallery today.

The whole school evaluation report of 2009 for Ennis Educate Together national school highlighted that the principal had significant difficulties carrying out his role, whole school planning was poor, there was no policy on staff rotation and no child protection policy, there were literacy and numeracy deficits and no ratified policy for pupils with special needs.In short it was an absolutely shocking situation. Seven years later a further whole-school evaluation report confirmed that no action had been taken to rectify these issues recording the management of the school as ineffective and unsatisfactory. There was still no child protection policy. The principal's performance was graded as unsatisfactory with regard to instructional leadership and school administration. A follow-up inspection report last year again highlighted the need for significant development and improvement with regard to the principal. By June of this year pupil enrolment was down to 63 students, a drop of two thirds.

The record shows that the Department of Education and Skills sat with folded hands throughout these years of failure. Worse than this, the Department allowed the only teacher with the courage to speak out about these failures to be forced into an unplanned premature retirement in 2012. This decision was taken after years of trying to address the management failures of the school and after years of raising serious concerns with the board of management and Department inspectors, concerns that went unheeded. This in stark contrast to the principal who was allowed to continue in his role until June of this year when he chose to retire. To this day the whistleblower does not know why the Department failed to take any action. Why was the principal allowed to continue in his post without any intervention by stakeholders, the board of management, school inspectors and the Department despite their knowledge of the desperate state of affairs at the school?

In 2015 the former deputy principal made protected disclosures directly to the then Minister of State at the Department, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan. There is no doubt that the 2016 whole school evaluation report was a direct result of this unprecedented intervention. However, the Department of Education and Skills has to date failed to respond to questions raised with regard to financial concerns, specifically activities over school registers which a school inspector said could constitute fraud. Among items of concern cited was a stolen blank cheque, subsequently cashed for €10,000. Why was the school's board of management allowed to ignore an occupational health report on the whistleblower? Why did the so-called mediation process offered to her not have protocols or due process? When will the whistleblower in this case get recognition and justice from a Department that has failed not just her but pupils at the school for a decade? This is a delivering equality of opportunity in schools, DEIS, school dealing with students from disadvantaged and vulnerable backgrounds. What message is the Minister sending to whistleblowers if he fails to acknowledge and deal with the appalling way in which this lady has been treated? Will he at least commit to meeting with her to discuss her case rather than dismiss the one person with the courage to speak out about the failings at Ennis Educate Together school?