Parents of second-level students are to take legal action against the State over its failure to provide classes for pupils during the current teachers' dispute. The impasse enters its seventh day today, with more than 600 schools again cancelling classes.
The parents will assert in their action that children have statutory and constitutional rights to an education which have to be vindicated by the State and the schools under its control.
The parents involved are members of the Congress of Catholic Secondary Schools' Parent Association (CSPA), which has told its members in 130 schools to send children to school even though classes are likely to be cancelled.
So far, school managers have declined to hold classes as long as members of the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) refuse to provide supervision during breaks and when other teachers are ill.
The parents are understood to be challenging this refusal and the Government's failure to rectify the position by putting in place arrangements to allow classes to take place.
Ms Barbara Johnston, spokeswoman for the CSPA, told The Irish Times that the parents had retained the services of counsel and a case was being prepared. She said that a lack of teachers for supervision in a school was not a sufficient legal reason to deny children access to education.
Ms Johnston maintained that school managers chose "teachers over parents" when they stopped classes because no teachers were available for supervisory duties.
The CSPA executive is meeting in Dublin on Saturday to discuss in more detail its response to the dispute. A march next Tuesday in Dublin city centre, to coincide with a rally by the ASTI, is also being considered.
In a separate development, the National Parents' Council (Post-Primary) met the Minister for Education, Dr Woods, last night, but a Department spokesman said that no major progress had been made.