I am delighted to have the opportunity of raising this serious matter on the appointment of a 15th assistant teacher to St. Mary's primary school, Mullingar. I am somewhat disappointed that my constituency colleague, the Minister for Education, is not present this evening to reply to the debate, but nonetheless I welcome the Minister of State. Deputy Treacy, whom I am sure will give me a favourable response.
The opening paragraph of a letter recently sent by the Department of Education to the chairman of the board of management of this school stated:
It has been brought to the Department's attention that a number of irregular practices are currently evident in your school.
That is strong language to use about a school which has such an impeccable record. The Christian Brothers have provided education at that school for approximately 150 years. Indeed, it is strong language to use about any school.
Departmental rules for teacher appointments indicate that if there are 485 pupils or more enrolled in a school on 30 September 1990 then the board of management can make such an appointment with the automatic approval of the Department. One can imagine the disappointment and frustration of the board of management in this instance when they were informed by the payments section of the Department of Education that ten pupils were not validly registered as pupils of this school. On making inquiries of the Department, the board of management were informed that ten children who had spent their earlier years in other schools could not be enrolled validly in St. Mary's primary school. I believe from the volume of letters which the Minister subsequently received that she is aware of the level of disgust among the parents of these children who now wonder why their children are considered to be illegal aliens in this school.
This, of course, begs several questions. Were these children insured for the year they attended St. Mary's school? Why did the Department of Education pay capitation grants for these children? Why did the Minister's Department say that ten children who repeated sixth class last year were invalidly enrolled when 23 children had repeated sixth class? I should point out that this is the fifth year there has been a repeat sixth class in the school. Were the registrations during those years also invalid? Department of Education inspectors visited this school on many occasions during that period and have spoken very positively about this class. The school had a major inspection in June of this year and got a glowing report.
If parents wish their children to repeat a class in primary school their teachers endorse that application, the principal concurs and there is written evidence of all these factors. Can the Minister for Education overrule the wishes of the parents and teachers? By taking such action against the wishes of the parents and teachers is the Minister not curtailing the constitutional rights and duties of parents to provide the best possible education for their children?
What criteria did the Department use to arrive at this decision? Did she take into account the knowledge of the parents, the teachers, school reports and so on, or was her decision based purely on a financial consideration? I am sure the Minister of State, will quote Circular 10/67 and say it is not normal that children should repeat in primary school. I am not saying it is normal that they should repeat. These are extraordinary circumstances where it is the wish of the parents and the teachers that children should repeat. Surely that must take precedence over everything else.
I wish to inform the Minister of State that the INTO made repeated representations in this case and in relation to the school. They take a very serious view of the fact that these children are declared invalidly enrolled.
What are the thoughts of the Department of Education in relation to repeat sixth class? Recently, some senior departmental inspectors indicated that repeat sixth class is the most important class in primary schools. Indeed, it would be interesting to hear the comments of the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, the principal of a secondary school, about the standard of pupil he would get into a second level school who repeated sixth class. Finally, I call on the Minister to sanction immediately the appointment of the assistant teacher to CBS, Mullingar.