A State-funded body that represents the parents of post primary school children is no longer "fit for purpose", according to a review carried out into its governance and funding.
A draft copy of the review of the National Parents Council Post Primary (NPCPP), which was commissioned by the Department of Education, has found that the organisation currently represents fewer than 15% of parents' associations here.
Governance Ireland Ltd, which carried out the review, has called its report "limited" because the NPCPP Board "have declined to engage with this review process despite multiple requests by Governance Ireland and the Department of Education".
It said its work was limited in scope as a result.
The Department of Education recently suspended funding of around €200,000 annually to the organisation and derecognised it as a body representing parents.
It said it had no option but to do so because the body had consistently declined to engage with the review process. It said it would be a breach of financial oversight obligations to continue the funding.
"It is an extremely serious matter that a body in receipt of grant payments from Exchequer funds, paid by this department, would not engage in such a review," the department said in a statement.
The Department of Education has said that in line with fair procedures, the NPCPP has been afforded an opportunity to correct any factual inaccuracies in the draft report before it is finalised.
Governance Ireland says its report is based only on statutory and publicly available financial information, and on consultation with other education stakeholders.
"We had no access to the NPCpp's key Governance documents, normally we would assess documents such as, Governance policy framework, board and committee minutes, Board strategy, business plans etc," it states.
It says its objective analysis of the body's governance structure "reveals very little by way of best practice Governance".
Governance Ireland says that it made repeated requests to the president and the board of NPCPP to engage. It said a key component of the review as envisaged was the "willing and active participation" of the board of the NPCPP.
NPCPP 'never refused to participate' in review
In a statement published on its website, the NPCPP said that "contrary to some commentary and reporting" it "never refused to participate" in the governance review.
It said its governance "is exemplary" and is "overseen quarterly by registered independent professional bodies".
"NPCPP has in fact engaged with a current review and has presented comprehensive comment, responses and documentation to ALL questions within the deadlines indicated.
"It appears however that some unknown motive may have led to the omission of much of this submission which, in turn, results in the information used by the reviewer, the DoE and the minister being two years out of date and casts some considerable doubt on the actual independence and value of this review."
The NPCPP also said the Minister for Education has declined to meet with them since her appointment despite numerous requests over two years.
Speaking to RTÉ's The Week in Politics, Minister for Education Norma Foley said the review of the NPCPP will be published in the coming days.
Speaking on #RTETWIP today, @NormaFoleyTD1 confirms the review of the National Parents Council Post Primary will be published "in the next number of days".#RTETWIP will repeat tonight at 2200 on the RTÉ News Channel and 2310 on @RTEOne pic.twitter.com/5AebfQYV4s
— The Week in Politics (@rtetwip) March 5, 2023
The NPCPP is a voluntary organisation which, according to its website, supports parents and guardians in their parenting role and to interact effectively with schools and other education partners on issues within the post primary education system.
However, this review says it was unable to determine how effective services such as a helpline run by the NPCPP were, because of the board's non-cooperation.
The review follows the awarding of a publicly tendered contract to Governance Ireland last September.
