Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is a proposal for a site in Mount Anville which seems to be stuck in the mud. This proposal needs to moved along because next September the school will not have enough room.

Similarly, on the autism spectrum disorder class in Booterstown, has the Minister any update on the progress with the site for St. Mary’s Boys National School?

There is also an important issue I raised on the Order of Business this morning which seems to have slipped in under the veil of Covid-19 in the context of Clonkeen College. The Edmund Rice Schools Trust, which runs Clonkeen College, has decided not to reappoint the board of management at the school there, which included parent representatives, and to put in place instead a single individual executive manager of the school. I will finish on this point, a Chathaoirleaigh Gníomhaigh, but it is very important to acknowledge that schools are not companies and are not to be run by managers but are to be run by people who understand education and in the interest of teachers, schoolchildren and parents and these groups should be included on the board of management. A single manager for a school like that is not appropriate. Can the Minister comment on this matter, please? I know that there are regulations in place, which I cannot find at the moment, that allow schools to do this, but it seems to me to be the wrong course of action. This is being done now by the trust under the guise of Covid-19 when they can get away with it and it should not happen. I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach for his indulgence.