"ONE of the most reforming education ministers in the history of the State" was how the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, described his Cabinet colleague, Niamh Bhreathnach, when she was confirmed as a surprise Labour election casualty.
The former party chairwoman and remedial teacher took the Barry Desmond seat on her first time out in 1992 and is one of only five deputies in the State's history to have been appointed to the Cabinet immediately after election.
She was probably the Cabinet's hardest worker and one of its highest achievers, seeing through a much amended Universities Bill, introducing the State's first comprehensive Education Bill, bringing in a three strand Leaving Cert and increasing the funding of primary schools by 60 per cent, She set up the National Education Convention to conduct an unprecedented debate on education involving parents groups, teacher unions and management bodies. As the role of the Catholic Church in education declined, she encouraged parents to take on more responsibility for running schools.
She made some spectacular mistakes, notably her failure to listen to the Higher Education Authority's criticisms of her universities legislation, with resulting humiliation when its list of amendments became public.
She would have expected that reforms such as her abolition of university fees nationally and her expansion of the local art college in to an RTC would have seen her home with her largely middle class Dun Laoghaire voters. But, at 52, she is young enough to stage a comeback: She has said that she intends to continue in politics until she is 60.