Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 May 2026
355. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Education and Youth the way in which complaints or concerns regarding external speakers in schools are recorded, investigated, and escalated; and the number of such complaints received in each of the past five years. [32214/26]
View answerUnder 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. The school principal manages the school on a day-to-day basis. As the Department of Education and Youth (‘the department’) has no role in the employment of staff in schools or day-to-day management of schools, a complaint about the child’s school and its staff or other matters related to the school should be made to the school itself.
While the department does provide funding and policy direction for schools, it does not have the power to instruct schools to follow a particular course of action with regard to individual complaint cases. The department’s role is to clarify for parents and students how their grievances and complaints can be progressed.
Where a complaint cannot be resolved informally, the school should have a formal complaints procedure that can be followed. This procedure should lay out what steps are to be followed and how long it should take the school to deal with the complaint. The school’s complaint procedures should be available on the school’s website. If not, the school can be contacted directly to request their complaint procedures.
Typically, if having spoken with the school principal, and the complaint has not been resolved the chairperson of the school’s board of management can be contacted or in the case of ETB schools, the relevant director in the Education and Training Board (ETB) can be contacted and address the correspondence as “Private and Confidential”.
The Ombudsman for Children may also be contacted. The Office of the Ombudsman for Children may independently investigate complaints about schools recognised by the Department of Education and Youth, provided the parent has firstly and fully followed the school's complaints procedures. The key criterion for any intervention by the Ombudsman for Children is that the administrative actions or non-actions of a school has, or may have, adversely affected the child. More information about the Ombudsman for Children can be obtained on www.oco.ie
The department does not maintain a record of complaints records received in relation to external speakers.
