Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 881: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the reason she did not investigate a matter (details supplied) fully when it arose. [10273/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Under the provisions of the Education Act 1998, the Board of Management or Single Manager is charged with the direct governance of a school, including issues relating to health and safety. In general, the board has the responsibility to ensure that the school operates efficiently and effectively and also has responsibilities in relation to the action of its employees. The Manager must manage the staff in the school and intervene when it considers it necessary to resolve matters relating to the actions of its employees. The Board or Manager is the employer and has similar powers to any other employer. Therefore, the issues outlined by the Deputy are essentially matters for the Manager of the school to investigate.

My Department is not the employer and does not have an employer/employee relationship with the teachers in this school, nor can it perform functions which are proper to the Board in relation to the management of the school. In addition, I'm sure the Deputy will appreciate that I am not in a position to disclose details relating to individual teachers.

I would like to assure the Deputy that I am monitoring the position at the school and I understand that the Single Manager is making strenuous efforts to bring about resolution to the outstanding unresolved issues.