This case involved the legal rights and obligations which arise from the unusual triangular arrangement whereby education in Ireland is funded. The fundamental question that arose on the facts concerns the proper legal characterisation of the employment relationship under the Act in circumstances where schools are under the management of management boards but salaries of teachers are paid by the Minister.

The respondent, Ms Boyle, had sought access from the Minister to a pension scheme for national school teachers but was refused on the basis that she was a qualified secondary teacher working as a teacher in a pre-school for children from the traveller community. Ms Boyle brought a complaint to the rights commissioner seeking that the terms and