Politicians should not be allowed on interview boards of vocational education committees (VECs) because they can be pressurised during the interview process, the Dail was told.
In some instances "the power vested in politicians on interview boards has been abused", according to Mr Jimmy Deenihan (FG, Kerry North) who said that in the past, VECs "have been bedevilled by their involvement".
Mr Deenihan was speaking during the debate on the Vocational Education (Amendment) Bill, whose provisions include giving parents, students and staff of VEC schools statutory right of representation on committees.
He said local authority councillors were not involved in selecting personnel for those authorities and "that practice should be extended to the VEC, which are an arm of local democracy".
The Kerry TD said "it is for the good and protection of politicians, who can be pressurised during the interviewing process".
The current system had not helped the images of VECs and in some cases politicians had abused their power".
"In the interests of vocational education and their own interest, politicians should not be involved."
His party colleague, Mr Michael Ring (FG, Mayo) hoped the legislation would not take power "from elected representatives and from the VECs themselves".
He believed too many powers had been given to the chief executives of health boards and to county managers. He added, however, that he would like to see direct elections to VECs, as it would be a fairer system.
"It is not right that the party which has a majority of seats on a local authority should control representation on the local VEC," he said.
He also called for sport to be a compulsory part of education. He said sport was the poor relation of education and it was a mistake to treat it as such.
More money should be spent on improving sports facilities for young people.
"Facilities should be made available for sports to encourage people to take part. It is not good for their minds and bodies if they do not participate in sport." Mr Martin Cullen, the Minister of State for Finance, responded for the Minister for Education, Dr Woods.
He said the intention of the legislation was to maintain the traditional model of partnership between VECs and the local community and to allow for further dedicated representation for the parents of students attending VEC schools and for the staff of the VEC.
"The Bill also allows for a further and wider category of representation on the VEC to include representatives of voluntary groups and the business community," he said.
The Bill now goes to the committee stage.
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