I spoke to the Taoiseach on this issue last week. I am glad he is back to take it, so I do not have to explain much of the background. It involves the amalgamation of two secondary schools, namely, St. Vincent's Secondary School and North Presentation Secondary School, on the north side of Cork city. All four Deputies representing Cork North-Central jointly tabled a Topical Issue matter last night. We are unanimous in our opposition to the process that has taken place up to now. There has been a complete lack of consultation with stakeholders. I understand from the response of the Minister, Deputy Foley, last night that a meeting between both boards of management and trustees is to take place tomorrow morning. I welcome that and hope there will be a resolution or further deliberation on the next stage of the process that is to be followed. The only document I could find that is relevant to managing the amalgamation of secondary schools dates back to 2001. It is a serious issue that we need to address.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The issue is basically that the patrons and trustees of both schools have set this process of amalgamation in train. A fundamental principle of partnership in education is consultation. Parents are clear that they have not been consulted enough in respect of this proposal. I was not in the Chamber yesterday evening - I was in Cairo - so I did not hear the Minister for Education's reply. I will follow up with her again. My view is that there should be full and comprehensive consultation with the parents in respect of this issue because a lot of concerns have arisen. There are broader concerns in terms of curriculum choice and so on in terms of the two schools and the number of pupils in each school. There are issues there but, nonetheless, there should be comprehensive consultation all around.