The Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin, has been warned that board of management liability in sexual abuse cases will make recruitment to the voluntary boards more difficult.
The warning was issued by the Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools at its 25th Annual Conference in Cavan today.
Minister Hanafin addressed the conference and afterwards said that the day to day running of schools is a matter for boards of management.
Delegates at the conference had raised their concern following an insistence from the Government on last night's RTÉ Prime Time programme that it is not responsible for teachers who sexually abuse students.
Ciarán Flynn of the Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools said if responsibility is to be shifted to boards of management, then recruiting voluntary board members will become more difficult.
Today Ms Hanafin said that although the State may pursue costs from victims of child sexual abuse who take an action against the department, no decision is taken lightly and no one has ever lost their home as a result of such an action.
The minister again repeated the view that the department did not have responsibility for day to day running in schools or individual cases involving children.
