Vol. 554 No. 5
518 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the dispute at Dunboyne Gaelscoil, Dunboyne, County Meath; and the involvement his Department, either officially or unofficially, has had in the situation. [15378/02]
Earlier this year difficulties arose in Scoil Tulach na nÓg, Dunboyne, in relation to two distinct issues – firstly disciplinary proceedings in relation to the principal teacher and, secondly, the wider issue of the teaching of religion.
With regard to the disciplinary proceedings, these are employer-employee matters which are entirely for resolution between the board of management, the principal teacher and the patron body. They are not matters in which either the Minister or the Department can interfere.
Primary schools are private institutions under independent management. The board of management is the body charged with the direct governance of the school and is the employer of the teachers in the school, including the principal teacher. The board is entitled to take disciplinary proceedings against a teacher if it considers that his or her conduct is or has been in some way unacceptable. Procedures are in place at local level for dealing with such matters and these procedures do not provide for the involvement of the Minister or the Department. In addition, an employee has recourse to employment law to ensure due process.
In the case of Scoil Tulach na nÓg the principal was suspended and subsequently dismissed and I understand that the case is the subject of an appeal to the Employment Appeals Tribunal.
On the wider issue of the teaching of religion, the school is under the patronage of an Foras Patrúnachta na Scoileanna Lán Ghaeilge. Its ethos is described by the patron body as interdenominational, whereby equal status is given to the Catholic and Church of Ireland religions. It is a matter for patron bodies to decide on the ethos which will apply in individual schools and neither the Minister nor the Department has any wish to interfere in such matters.
The Department does not lay down a religious education curriculum at primary level. It is a matter for the patron to outline the religious education programme which it expects the school to follow under its patronage and to determine how the programme should be taught. The Department's only stipulation is that a minimum of 30 minutes per day must be allocated to the teaching and implementing of religious education curricula.
However, to assist in resolving the difficulties surrounding the teaching of religion at Gaelscoil Thulach na nÓg, as opposed to the disciplinary matters referred to above, I supported and funded a facilitation process between the parties. My Department was not a party to this process.
