'You came. You saw. You will conquer'
- Published: 30 October 2008
By Caroline O'Doherty
TEACHERS normally discourage telling tales out of school, but the crowd who gathered to protest against education cuts were agog to hear what Joe O'Toole had to say.
The independent senator, who himself used to wear a layer of chalk dust, had his ear to the ground in Leinster House all day listening to the occupants delude themselves about the gathering storm outside.
"They were saying you won't turn out in the wind and the rain and the cold," Joe confided in the 12,000 standing in the street, enduring those very afflictions. "They were hoping you wouldn't turn out. They were praying you wouldn't turn out. But you did turn out. You came here, you saw them and you will conquer them."
Outside the Dáil last night rules such keeping voices down and refraining from speaking all at once were chucked out the classroom window. The teachers, parents and hundreds of children who crammed onto Molesworth Street were in the mood to conquer. They had already overcome the weather, the contingent from Donegal braving snow storms, hail and ice-rink roads to get there.
And they were nothing if not prepared for the cruel elements, with sturdy trade union placards of heavy duty card — perfect for doubling as shelters to escape the worst of the freezing rain.
Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe was the subject of many of the slogans they carried. "No More Batt-y Cuts", "Don't Batt-er Our Children", "O'Keeffe Is Batts" were just some of the pointed messages.
He was portrayed as a blood-sucking Hallowe'en bat, made star of his own scary movie and blamed for cranking up the murder machine while over the public address system blared the Manic Street Preachers anthem, If You Tolerate This, Your Children Will Be Next.
Mary Hurley, principal of the three-teacher, 75-pupil Doora National School in Co Clare was clear why she would not tolerate the cuts. "My main concern is the withdrawal of substitute cover. If a teacher goes sick, we'll have to split 75 children between the remaining two and no child is going to be educated properly in those circumstances."
With her was Margaret McCarthy and her 12-year-old son, Brian, who attends Inch NS, also in Co Clare. "He only has a year left to go, but he won't get this year back if the cuts go ahead and hurt his education. You only get one chance at your education."
Principal of the 142-pupil school Rosemarie Corry said it had lost €2,000 in grants since the cuts were announced and, as the teacher of a class of 33 pupils, she was furious at the prospect of trying to care for ten more any time a teacher was sick.
"Once this starts, next year there will be another cut and the next year more again. It's very frustrating when all we want is to do a good job for the children."
Second-level schools were vocal too. Alan Thompson, teacher at the 800-pupil Abbey Vocational School in Donegal town, was one of those who battled the snow to get to the protest, determined not to accept cuts to the Leaving Cert Applied and Junior Cert Schools Programme for less academically gifted students.
"They're going after the most disadvantaged students which is absolutely appalling and I don't accept the assurances that it's only temporary. It's not good enough for the Government to say that we should just grin and bear it for two years until the economy improves — the consequences for a child can last a lifetime."
Joan Mulvihill, principal of 257-pupil Convent Primary School in Listowel, Co Kerry, used to like maths before she did her sums and realised the cuts would lose her three of her 19 teachers. She's also been waiting for the cheque in the post for learning support equipment and now knows it's not arriving.
"All we want is fair play for the children. I'm angry at Batt O'Keeffe but he isn't alone in this. He's doing what he's told. Well, I'm a teacher and, never mind what I usually say to the kids, sometimes you shouldn't do what you're told."
