Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 May 2026
351. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Education and Youth to clarify the respective roles of her Department, school boards of management and school patron bodies in the approval of external speakers into schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32210/26]
View answer352. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Education and Youth whether there are mandatory national safeguarding standards that apply to all external speakers addressing students in primary and post-primary schools; and the minimum requirements that must be met in all cases. [32211/26]
View answer354. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Education and Youth whether any central record is maintained of external speakers invited into schools, including religious, civic, advocacy or community representatives; and if not, the way in which oversight of such engagements is ensured at national level. [32213/26]
View answer356. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Education and Youth the mechanisms in place to ensure that material delivered by external speakers is age-appropriate, balanced, and consistent with the curriculum and ethos of the school; and whether any guidance is issued to schools in this regard. [32215/26]
View answer357. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Education and Youth whether she accepts that while boards of management have autonomy in school operations, there remains a requirement for national consistency in safeguarding standards relating to external speakers; and if she will outline where the line of accountability lies in cases where concerns arise. [32216/26]
View answer358. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Education and Youth whether any national guidance exists regarding conflicts of interests or transparency obligation for boards of management and parent associations; whether such bodies are required to maintain registers of interest; and whether she is satisfied that current governance arrangement ensure appropriate safeguarding and accountability in school level decision making. [32217/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 351, 352, 354, 356, 357 and 358 together.
School management, principals and teachers have a duty to provide the best quality and the most appropriate education to their students in their local context.
Choices regarding educational services are made by individual schools and their boards of management, not by the Department. Schools are free to choose whatever resources they feel supports the delivery of the curriculum in their school.
My Department provides clear guidance to schools on the engagement of outside speakers and on the use of external resources to assist in delivering the curriculum. These guidelines are most recently outlined in updated circular 0042/2018 for primary schools and 0043/2018 for post primary schools.
As laid out in these guidelines, all external facilitators are to be compliant with the school’s child protection policy and other relevant school policies and procedures. The school authority is to satisfy itself, having regard to its own legal advice if required, that it has met any vetting obligations that arise under the Vetting Act and in line with Circular 0031/2016, for such external facilitators.
Where an external facilitator is engaged by a school, he or she should be engaged in the context of delivering a planned and comprehensive programme in the school. The facilitator should not be brought in to replace the school programme but to enhance it. External facilitators always work under the guidance and supervision of the relevant classroom teacher who remains in the classroom with the students at all times and retains a central role in the delivery of the subject matter.
External facilitators and the materials they propose to use should be approved by the principal and board of management, in consultation with the relevant teaching staff. The guidelines provided also outline the requirements of facilitators and materials in terms of appropriateness to the age and development stage of students as well as overarching school programmes.
While my Department provides guidelines for all schools on the use of external facilitators, it does not have any direct role in the school’s use of external facilitators. As such, there is no central database of school engagement with external facilitators.
The guidance provided by my Department in circulars 0042/2018 and 0043/2018 aims to support school authorities in providing the best possible education to their students while protecting students from any potentially harmful, inappropriate or misguided resources, interventions or programmes.
