Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghábhail leis na Teachtaí a chuidigh leis an mBille seo agus na Teachtaí a labhair ar an mBille. Tá a fhios againn uilig go bhfuil an comh-oibriú seo de dhíth go géar sa tír seo idir na scoileanna éagsúla. Níl amhras ar bith ach go ndéanfaidh sé maitheas mór do chúis an oideachais go ginearálta sa tír.
I should like to express my thanks to Deputy Donegan and Deputy Desmond for their support and the support of their parties for this Bill. It is very considerable encouragement to me to have their support so that we can press forward with the work of developing co-operation, As I mentioned on many occasions, I am very anxious to promote co-operation between various types of schools, particularly in the small towns and rural areas so as to provide not only free education but, in so far as is possible, equality of opportunity as well. This can be achieved only where the numbers in a school or in co-operating schools are large enough to permit of a curriculum to cover a wide range of abilities.
There is a considerable amount of co-operation at present between the secondary and vocational schools on an ad hoc basis. This co-operation is largely confined to an exchange of teachers and to the common use of existing facilities. It does not nor cannot provide for co-operation in matters involving capital expenditure, for example, the purchase of land for sites or playing pitches, as I have mentioned in my opening speech, or in the extension of existing buildings, the erection of buildings or the equipping of classrooms and so on.
The provision in the first part of this Bill is intended to give co-operation between various types of schools the necessary impetus. If I might just very briefly repeat what I have said in my opening statement that under the present legislation vocational education committees can contribute towards the cost of an educational establishment only if the ownership and management are entirely in the hands of the committee. Section 1 of this Bill is designed to supply the deficiency in existing legislation by making it possible for a vocational education committee to join with another school authority in assuming joint responsibility for financing and managing joint educational undertakings. The section of the Bill deliberately refrains from specifying or defining the details of such co-operation financial and otherwise, and this is something to which Deputy Desmond referred. We are, as can be seen from the Bill, leaving the whole matter as flexible as possible.
Joint management of schools is a new venture in this country and for that reason the more flexible we leave it the more likely we are to make progress in relation to the whole matter. As I said, this makes possible the administration of co-operative measures in a manner so flexible as to meet the differing local conditions or circumstances and differing degrees of involvement of the various parties. If, for example, a committee are to be responsible for one half of the pupils in the case of a joint venture, then it would appear equitable that they would share the cost on a fifty-fifty basis. If, on the other hand, they are to be responsible for one-third of the pupils, then it would be reasonable to expect that their financial involvement would be somewhat of the same proportion. Of course, there are various methods by which this can be done. It can be done, for example, on a capitation basis by reference to subject hours or to all-over teaching hours.
Deputy Desmond also referred to the management of the schools and, of course, the personnel of the joint management boards will be a matter for negotiation and local agreement. I could say that in the few cases in which agreement has been reached the boards of management will be on a fifty-fifty basis and under the chairmanship of the local bishop. I stress again that the section here merely enables but does not compel co-operation, nor does it affect the independence of either of the school authorities concerned. Of course, apart altogether from the educational benefits arising from co-operation between school authorities, a considerable economy to the taxpayer is also effected in that duplication of facilities, of buildings, of equipment, of teaching power is avoided. For instance, if a laboratory is shared between a vocational and a secondary school, it can be fully utilised, whereas if each of them had their own the chances are that neither would be fully utilised.
I will refer briefly to the relevant section of the principal Act and read out the section as it is—section 108 (4) of the Vocational Education Act, 1930, which states:
In either the first or the second election year after a vocational education committee has been dissolved under this section, the Minister shall by order cause a new election of members of such committee to be made, and upon the completion of such new election all the properties, powers, and duties of the dissolved comittee shall vest in the committee so elected, notwithstanding that the same may have been transferred by the Minister under this section to any other body, persons or person.
This section permits the reconstruction of the membership of the dissolved committee only during the course of the first or second election year, thus, in effect, prohibiting the reconstitution of the committee at any other time. For example, the reconstitution of the Limerick committee could not occur until 1972 which is the next election year.
Section 2 of the Bill enables the Minister to reconstitute a dissolved committee at any time not later than the end of the second election year after the date of the dissolution of the committee. In fact, it makes it mandatory on the Minister to reconstitute a dissolved comittee before the end of the second election year which means that the committee would not remain dissolved for a period longer than ten years.
