Ruth Coppinger
Question:240. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide the minutes from the meetings of the Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Education and Training Board over the past year. [36348/14]
View answerThursday, 25 September 2014
Questions (240)
Written answers
The minutes of the meetings of Dublin and Dun Laoghaire Education and Training Board requested by the Deputy are not provided to my Department. Consequently, I am not in a position to provide them to the Deputy. Education and Training Boards (ETBs) are required in accordance with paragraph 9 of Schedule 3 of the Education and Training Boards Act, 2013, to ensure that minutes of each meeting of the Board are prepared; submitted for confirmation at the next meeting of the Board; signed by the person chairing the meeting at which they were submitted for confirmation; retained and open to inspection at all reasonable times by a person authorised by the Minister for that purpose. There is no statutory requirement that a copy of the ETB minutes be routinely provided to the Department. Accordingly, the Department advised ETBs in February 2014 that they were not required to submit the minutes of each Board meeting to the Department and to discontinue the practice with immediate effect. However, ETBs were advised that minutes of Board meetings must be made available to the Minister if requested.