asked the Minister for Education if he is aware of a recent High Court decision in relation to the appointment of a headmaster in Portlaoise vocational school; if he will now insist on the appointment by the Laois Vocational Education Committee of the qualified applicant (name supplied); the action he proposes to take against the committee for refusing to appoint a qualified headmaster in breach of their statutory duty; if he will review memo V.7 in the light of the outcome of this case; and if he will make a statement on this matter in the light of the disregard of his authority as Minister by the Laois County Vocational Education Committee.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Laois Teacher Appointment.
21.
The import of the High Court judgment to which the Deputy refers is at present under consideration. I am not in a position to make any statement in its regard at this stage.
I am disappointed with the Minister's reply. Is he aware that, despite the High Court judgment, yesterday the Laois Vocational Education Committee decided to re-advertise this position? Is he aware that there is already a qualified applicant who has been awaiting sanction by the Minister for Education for the past three years since the job was first advertised in April, 1974?
I was aware that the Laois Vocational Education Committee were meeting yesterday. I am not aware of what decision they took. I presume any decision they took will be formally relayed to me and I will have it examined in the light of the High Court judgment handed down by Mr. Justice McWilliams.
Is the Minister aware that the decision there was that Laois Vocational Education Committee was bound immediately to take such steps as might be necessary to have the appointment made to the position of principal?
Yes.
And that there is a successful applicant who holds all the qualifications awaiting nomination by that committee for almost three years, since April-May, 1974? Is the Minister aware that his predecessor was pressing the vocational education committee to send up that name and that now this maverick vocational committee are refusing to do so?
This is not a maverick committee; it is a vocational education committee appointed within the terms of the Vocational Educational Act.
They have not performed their statutory duty? Is the Minister aware that the High Court have so decided?
I presume that the man named in the question is the candidate to whom the Deputy refers?
Yes.
That candidate took action in the High Court to establish his right to be appointed principal and this right was not upheld by the court in question. The court's judgment was that another man was not the principal or acting principal of the school and that the committee was bound forthwith to take such steps as may be necessary to have an appointment made to the position of principal. If the VEC met yesterday, whatever decision they took to see that this direction by the High Court is adhered to, they will communicate that presumably to my Department. I shall then discuss that decision or that intention with the Attorney General to see if it complies with the order handed down by Justice McWilliams. That is as far as I am willing to go at this stage.
I am extremely dissatisfied with the Minister's reply and in view of the fact that he does not seem to appreciate the problem that has been created for the pupils in Portlaoise——
I do indeed.
——I propose to give notice of my intention to raise the matter on the Adjournment.
I shall communicate with the Deputy in regard to the matter.