An insider's guide to education
Mary Hanafin did her best but . . . it is proving difficult to fully engage Brian Cowen in the education agenda. The finance minister was generous in respect of those with disabilities in the Budget. But there was no crock of gold for the universities and, essentially, more of the same on primary school buildings.
All of this explains why there was an acute sense of disappointment in the air among the teacher unions and around Marlborough Street last week.
Among the hacks, meanwhile, there was a degree of anger about the news management of the Budget. None of the usual details was given in Wednesday's Budget speech. Instead, they were rolled out some days later as the Government spin-doctors sought to maximise the media impact of the good news. And we thought the media controlled the agenda?
Has UCD fallen out of love with the National University of Ireland (NUI)? The word from the windy Belfield campus is that the new UCD leadership would like to get rid of what is seen as a worthless link with the NUI - and one which undermines the UCD "brand", as the marketing professionals like to call it. There is loose talk about breaking the link with the NUI.
One question: what would one of UCD's most famous old boys, Garret FitzGerald, make of it all? Garret is, of course, Chancellor of the NUI.
No great surprises in the votes to the new Teaching Council. In general terms, those who had a strong trade union presence managed to take the seats.
One striking feature was the very strong showing of Joan Sheehan of the TUI, who lost out narrowly to ASTI president, Susie Hall. Sheehan benefited from a strong campaign organised, in part, by TUI education officer John MacGabhann.
Mary Hanafin and the teacher unions did their best to get teachers interested in the process but the 40 per cent turnout was evidence of the apathy that pervades many staffrooms.
In this time of plenty, isn't it quite extraordinary that virtually every school in the country is running Christmas events and selling raffle tickets in order to make do?
Fair enough, if these events were for non-essential items but quite the reverse is true. In recent weeks, many school principals have been seeking to raise badly needed funds for "amenities" such as showers and hot water for sports teams and upgraded toilet facilities. When is this country going to have the kind of modern, well-equipped schools that our EU partners take for granted?
Got any education gossip? E-mail us, in confidence, at teacherspet@irish-times.ie
