The position is that the original agreements and understanding reached when the 16 comprehensive schools were established did not provide for parent and teacher representation on the boards of management. Clearly, this is an unacceptable position and my Department has been working for a number of years with the following interested parties, the Catholic Church, the Church of Ireland, the Jesuit Community, the National Parent Council — Post-Primary, the IVEA and the teacher unions to bring about a change. Agreement on the revised composition of the boards took a considerable time to achieve, but I am glad to say that three discrete models have been produced, one for the ten Catholic comprehensives, one for the five Protestant comprehensives and one for the Jesuit comprehensive. A common feature of the new arrangements is the inclusion on the board of two parents and two teachers in each case.
While these are State schools, they were established by the State in the context of agreements and understandings reached with the church interests, at the time, regarding their operation. Therefore, the precise composition of each board in terms of the balance of interests represented did not start from a blank canvass. For example, the revised board in the case of the Protestant comprehensives includes six church nominees in an overall board of 11. This arose because the Church of Ireland felt unable to agree to any revised composition that did not enshrine a majority for it on the board, as was the case when the schools were first established.
The present position is that, as the schools were established by formal agreements, it is necessary to revise all relevant existing legal instruments to reflect the inclusion of parent and teacher representatives, as agreed. This work is completed in the case of the Jesuit school in Limerick and a revised legal instrument has been signed. It is my understanding that the new board is now in place there. In the case of the other schools, work is ongoing with the legal representatives of the Catholic and Protestant churches and a response is awaited from the church interests to proposals made by my officials as the basis for amending the relevant texts.
I appreciate that this process has been lengthy. I am very anxious to have the matter finalised as quickly as possible. However, the Deputy will appreciate that, while the State established the schools concerned, I as Minister, have the power to appoint and remove the existing boards. I want, however, to proceed in a manner that is faithful to the original agreements with the churches and to appoint new boards only when the agreements have been formally revised. Given co-operation by all parties concerned, I believe the new school year is a realistic target for implementation of the new board structures.
