Parents at post-primary level should be represented by a single, Government-funded parents' organisation, the Minister for Education and Science, Mr Dempsey, has been told.
The existing National Parents Council (post-primary) has put in a "patchy" performance as a result of "a significant amount of tension due to personality difficulties and, indeed, ideological clashes", says a report commissioned by the Minister.
"There is a history of resignations of members due to various differences of opinion, and there is certainly a view abroad that much of the council's time is taken up with internal argumentation rather than with the broad issues affecting education," says Mr Jack O'Brien in his report, The Issue of State Financial Support for and Recognition of Parental Representation at Second level.
One organisation in the form of a reconstituted National Parents' Council would help to end the discord amongst competing parents' associations at second level, Mr O'Brien, a former senior civil servant, says. He says the new National Parents' Council should have a chief executive officer and research officer and should not be expected to rely on voluntary input.
The National Parents Council (post-primary) has representatives of various special interests, such as religious groupings. The catalyst for the O'Brien report was the decision by the Catholic Secondary Parents Association (CSPA) to break away from the National Parents Council (post-primary) last December. The CSPA had consistently objected to sex, health and personal education programmes at second-level, particularly the "exploring masculinities" programme.
The association believes that the views of the 100 schools it represents were not being heard by the NPC. While the CSPA welcomes Mr O'Brien's endorsement of the value of parents organisations, it believes that each parents association should be funded by the Department of Education.
It has accused the report of suggesting that the Department of Education "should ignore how parents have chosen to represent themselves by taking control of parental representation themselves".
However, the National Parents Council (post-primary), described in the report as "not an outstanding success", has welcomed Mr O'Brien's recommendations.
The president of the NPC, Ms Eleanor Petrie, agrees with his analysis that constituent bodies were competing for power, making the council ineffective.
Ms Petrie joined the council as a representative of COMPASS, an organisation of minority religious schools, including the Protestant and Jewish faiths.
Mr O'Brien believes that the "creation of one organisation to represent all parents at post-primary level remains an attractive concept, given that it would provide a very strong voice for parents throughout the sector and would help to end the discord evident among parent associations in this sector for years".