The Children's Ombudsman will establish if the board of a national school satisfactorily investigated complaints of child physical and sexual abuse made against two of its teachers.

Three sets of parents whose children attended the Co Kilkenny school, where a class teacher and the principal were accused of the assaults in 2006 and 2007, made representations to the office of the Children's Ombudsman.

They have been notified that ombudsman Emily Logan will conduct a preliminary examination of the school's handling of their original complaints. The decision follows initial inquiries by the ombudsman to the Department of Education and the Bishop of Ossory, the school's patron. Depending on the outcome of the preliminary examination, it is open to the ombudsman to pursue a full investigation.

Logan's office is already investigating the HSE's handling of the audit of child sexual abuse complaints made to the Catholic church and, separately, the failure to consistently implement the "Children First" guidelines. The latter inquiry is concentrating on the HSE, the Department of Health and the office of the Minister for Children.

The Sunday Tribune revealed three weeks ago that 10 children aged five to eight have said they were physically assaulted in the Co Kilkenny school. Five of them alleged sexual abuse by the class teacher, using a thorny stick. Three of the children further alleged that the principal also participated in the sexual abuse.

In the last 24 months, nearly one-fifth of the children in the national school have been removed by their parents. The once close-knit community is bitterly divided over the allegations.

Following the revelations, a number of past pupils of the school have claimed they were subjected to physical punishment there in the 1980s and 1990s, after the abolition of corporal punishment.

The HSE has closed its investigation file on the case. The class teacher, who had been placed on administrative leave during the investigation, has been reinstated. The principal remained on the board of management throughout. The DPP has instructed that no charges be brought on foot of four garda files. Following enquiries from this newspaper, the HSE has admitted it made a "transcription" error in communicating a serious allegation to the school's board of management. No attempt was made to rectify the mistake before the board concluded its deliberations, adjudging the complaints to have been unsubstantiated.

The HSE also failed to act on a recommendation by one of its own psychologists that it investigate what was going on in the school.

Education minister Batt O'Keeffe has stated in the Dáil that the HSE, the DPP and the board of management, under statutory guidelines and procedures, investigated the complaints.