An insider's guide to education
So farewell then Noel Dempsey. The Tornado from Trim took his leave of Marlborough Street last Wednesday. Apparently, he was sorry to leave (at least that is what he told his senior officials), but after two years of attrition it must be a relief to leave it all behind.
The Dempsey era proved that Education, just like Health, is something of an Angola. With so many powerful vested interest groups, all with easy access to the media, it can be impossible to achieve real progress.
Dempsey set in train important initiatives on disadvantage, on primary school buildings, on school tests and so on. But delivery remained a problem.
His finest hour, the OECD report on third-level education, which he commissioned, was published during his last days in office. He will be remembered for the fees fiasco, where he failed to muster support from his Cabinet colleagues. But who is to say that the issue will not be revisited in the not too distant future?
Mary Hanafin's political instincts are probably less radical than Dempsey's so she is unlikely to get into the same number of scrapes. Much attention will focus on her choice of programme manager and press officer, two key appointments for the new regime. But she must be careful - an adviser with his/her own power base can ruffle feathers in the Department.
In the coming weeks and months, she will be drawing heavily on the unrivalled experience of department secretary- general John Dennehy, someone who understands better than most the landmines lurking in the education portfolio.
It will not be top of his agenda, but one of the issues for the new finance minister, Brian Cowen, will be the Wrixon Question i.e. whether to give the embattled UCC president a five-year extension.
Noel Dempsey has already signed off on the extension, but confirmation from Finance is still awaited.
If you want a good overview of the third-level sector in the State, look no further than Prof John Coolahan's background paper, prepared for the recent OECD review.
The paper from the former NUI Maynooth academic is available on the OECD website. It is a terrific piece of work, well-informed and very well written.
All credit to Barbara Johnston of the Catholic Parents' Association. Her monthly magazine for parents is quite a departure from most in-house education journals, which can be a little turgid. There is plenty of interesting stuff in there, including a guide to the excessive cost of school books.
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