86. Deputy Ann Graves asked the Minister for Education and Youth her views on a matter regarding a school (details supplied) [35510/26]

Under the Education Act 1998, legally, all schools are managed by the school Board of Management, on behalf of the school patrons. It is the school Board of Management that employs the school’s teachers and other staff members except in Education and Training Board (ETB) schools, where it is the ETB that is the employer.

All teachers are legally required to be vetted by the National Vetting Bureau. It is the role of the Teaching Council to administer vetting for teachers in Ireland. The Teaching Council assesses the vetting disclosure (result) to establish if a teacher can be registered. The role of the school is to receive and assess the vetting disclosure when employing teachers.

Schools are required to comply with Circular 31/2016 Commencement of Statutory Requirements for Garda Vetting  which outlines that Section 12 of the Vetting Act requires that a school authority must not, other than where certain exemptions  apply, commence the employment of an employee to undertake relevant work or activities before the school authority receives a vetting disclosure from the Bureau in respect of that person. This requirement applies in respect of all types of appointment of any duration including full time, part time and substitute positions.

Separate to the requirements of the Vetting Act school authorities are required to be cognisant of their civil law duty of care to their students and the need for prudent practice from a child protection perspective. School authorities are required to ensure compliance with the department’s requirements in relation to the provision of a child protection related statutory declaration and associated form of undertaking by all persons being appointed to teaching and non-teaching positions. The form of undertaking must be completed as close as possible to, and in any case before, the commencement of employment in the school. This includes emergency and substitute positions. The school authority must obtain and view the original statutory declaration and associated form of undertaking and retain a copy of it for its own records.

Section 4.1 (10) of Circular 31/2016 also outlines that thorough recruitment procedures, including the checking of references and any gaps in career history, are an essential element of child protection practice. It further outlines that statutory vetting should not take the place of good recruitment procedures but must be used as part of those procedures.

Department Circular 44/2019 sets out the leadership and management framework for posts and the recruitment and appointments procedures for registered Teachers, Assistant Principals, Deputy Principals and Principals in recognised primary schools and special schools, including where a proportion of the pupils attending are of post-primary age and where second level programmes are being provided.  Circular 44/2019 also underlines that schools/ETBs must ensure compliance with the National Vetting Bureau (Children and  Vulnerable Persons) Acts 2012 to 2016 and with relevant Department Circulars in relation to Garda vetting.  The Circular requires schools/ETBs to verify references for successful appointees.

Some of the  issues raised by parents are ones which are best addressed by Dublin Dun Laoghaire ETB as the patron of the school / employer. It may assist to know that a working group was set up early in 2025 to support the establishment of the new special school in Belmayne. This group was chaired by the Department and included representatives from the patron body and the NCSE. The group continued to meet through 2025 and 2026 to progress the establishment of the school and monitor its progress since opening in late 2025.

This school is funded, resourced, and supported by the Department and the NCSE, in accordance with the profiled needs of the students.

The school currently has 30 students and a staffing allocation of

• an administrative principal

• an administrative deputy principal

• 5 class teachers and

• 10 special needs assistants (SNAs).

The school also has an allocation of 10 co-operation hours per week to support the delivery of post-primary subjects.

In addition to the above, one additional teaching post has been sanctioned recently. The additional staff will assist with providing a consistent staffing in the school in the event of any staff absences.

The school has also sought a review of its SNA allocation and has been engaging closely with the NCSE on this review and other supports. The NCSE have confirmed an additional 5 SNA posts for the school, increasing the number of SNAs to 15.

The school is also one of 45 special schools announced as part of phase 1 of the rollout of the new national Education Therapy Service.