The State's largest parents' group has strongly criticised the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, following his Department's decision to cut its funding in 2004.
The Congress of Catholic Secondary Schools Parent Associations (CSPA) says it will not be able to train parental representatives on school boards as a result of the decision. CSPA represents parents in hundreds of second-level schools.
The organisation's spokeswoman, Ms Barbara Johnson, said CSPA found out about the decision recently after receiving a letter from the Department's in-career development unit. Her organisation funds its core activities via subscriptions, but has been receiving funding for other activities for several years.
She accused the Minister and the Department of speaking with "forked tongue" about parents in the education system. She said the Department talked about promoting the parental perspective, but was now cutting the funding.
"We will not be able to hold our training conference this year. Parents receive the opportunity for training once a year and never, in the last decade, has any previous Minister of Education deprived them of this," she said.
"But things have been different since Minister Dempsey arrived in town. He has resolutely employed the authority and resources of his office to impose his policies and his approach. As an almost invisible blip on the Minister's horizon, CSPA can only say the Minister and his Department speaks with a forked tongue and, what is said is often very different from what is done."
The Department of Education for some time has been anxious to promote a partnership approach in education. However a letter from the in-career development unit told the CSPA that "budgetary constraints" meant no activities could be funded in 2004. It asked the organisation not to make any arrangements that might require departmental funding. Ms Johnson said the school curriculum was still developed and planned in the majority of subjects without CSPA consultation or inclusion.
"The solitary parent on NCCA, representing all parents at second-level, satisfies the Department's need for a consultative process. Parents do not even have equality of representation on NCCA," she said.
Ms Johnson said parents remained greatly neglected in the education system.
"No matter what is legislated for or promised there is no status, resources, training or real participation established for parents. We have no autonomy to plan for the future, no independence to train or grow, and most damming of all - no say in our children's education."