Fianna Fail is to submit over 200 amendments to the Education Bill today, including the deletion of all references to the proposed regional education boards. The Fianna Fail spokesman on education, Mr Micheal Martin, described the proposed boards as "far too expensive" and "a bureaucratic nightmare".
He said that the Bill should oblige the Minister for Education to seek agreement with parents, patrons and teachers on the form of boards of management and that Section 37, which freezes funding to schools which fail to establish boards, was "unconstitutional".
Fianna Fail also proposes to amend the Bill to give a school "patron the clearly stated right to protect the ethos and core values of the school.