CIVIL service unions representing supervisory and clerical staff in the Department of Education have criticised the Minister, Ms Breathnach, for refusing to give them copies of the Price Waterhouse report into the missing, materials from 1995 art examinations.
They say they will boycott talks with the Department until they are given copies. It was commissioned after craftwork submitted by students went missing.
The Public Service Executive Union and the Civil and Public Service Union have accused the Minister and the Department of reneging on commitments to supply them with copies.
Assistant general secretary of the PSEU Mr Billy, Hannigan, said he did not see how his union could become involved in discussions with the Department on the contents of the report.
The assistant general secretary of the CPSU, Mr Paddy Woods, said the report was expected to contain recommendations on changes in work practices, procedures, staffing and other issues. "It is outrageous that the union representing the vast majority of staff in the Department's examination branch is being denied access to this important report."
Ms Breathnach decided not to release the report last week on legal grounds.
It will now be laid before the Oireachtas and the only way its contents can be made public will be if a member of the Oireachtas reads it into the record of the Dail or Seanad.