'˜Arrogant' John O'Dowd blasted for attack on critical MLAs' report

Sinn Fein’s John O’Dowd issued a statement saying Stormont’s Public Accounts Committee had “completely failed to grasp” the complexity of the issues it was examining in its latest report, following findings that his department has overstated the number of vacant school places in the Province.

The 11-member committee which wrote the report is chaired by Sinn Fein MLA Michaela Boyle, and party colleagues Conor Murphy and Phil Flanagan also serve as members.

Among its findings were that education officials have relied on information which is riven with “fundamental flaws” when working out how many school places are currently unfilled – meaning there may be far fewer empty desks in schools than previously believed.

The department reported that there were just over 71,500 surplus school places in 2014/15, down from more than 83,300 in 2008/09.

However, the committee’s MLAs were “unconvinced that it has calculated surplus places accurately”, saying it relies on old information, and fails to take account of schools which are over-enrolled.

The committee did not give an estimate for what it believes the true surplus figure to be.

Its report also found that £4.2m was paid over a period of five years to teachers who had been suspended from their posts.

Of the 106 suspended, just six ended up being dismissed.

What is more, this £4.2m figure is thought to be an underestimate of the full cost, because it only covers payments and pension contributions made to the suspended staff, not the costs of hiring replacement teachers to cover for them.

In response to the report, the department said its “sustainable schools policy has been tested in court on several occasions and found to be a competent policy upon which to make decisions both about the future of individual schools and area planning more widely”.

It added that the matter is “complex and challenging”, and that the committee had “failed to recognise this in its written report and indeed would appear to have completely failed to grasp the complex nature of the policy”.

Committee member Edwin Poots said that Mr O’Dowd is a former chairman of the same committee, adding that his Sinn Fein colleagues who currently serve on it had agreed the report’s contents.

“What he is saying demonstrates the arrogance of the Department of Education in not accepting that they do get things wrong,” said Mr Poots.

“Rather than shooting the messenger, they’d be better to address the actual message.”

As reported in the News Letter, unionists have welcomed Mr O’Dowd’s decision to step down from the post he has occupied since 2011 following the upcoming Assembly election.