IPPN

Published: 03 March 2009

Source: Irish Times

Minister Batt O'Keeffe digs in on needs controversy

TEACHER'S PET: It is the question dominating discussion in education circles. Why did Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe impose those cold-hearted changes in special needs for the sake of a measly €7 million?

The assumption has been that 128 schools losing special needs classes were notified - without the prior knowledge of the Minister.

But it is now clear that O'Keeffe knew about the note to schools and did not seek to prevent its release.

Since the controversy surfaced, O'Keeffe has given a defence of the decision on RTÉ's News at One, in a letter to this newspaper and in a robust opinion article in the Irish Examiner.

In the Examiner article, O'Keeffe said there had been a staggering level of misinform- ation and misrepresentation on the issue. He also accused INTO boss John Carr of being disingenuous, given his knowledge of the requirements for teacher allocations.

The Minister is still digging in on the issue, arguing it makes good sense to mainstream small numbers of children with a mild learning disability.

He has also moved to reassure parents that children with such needs can get a quality education in a mainstream class, delivered by committed class teachers and supplemented by additional support from the resource/ learning support teacher.

But is there any point in rolling out these arguments in a debate about very vulnerable children?

In his article, the Minister openly acknowledges the "emotive nature of special education and the natural sympathy we all have for children with special needs and their parents.'" This, he says, makes it all the more important that we do not cloud facts with emotion.

But there is also the political reality; no Minister for Education can ever hope to win an argument on special needs.

The Minister was again on the defensive on the issue in the Dáil last Thursday. He made some valid points but there was the sense that he was winning a battle - and losing the war.

Until now, O'Keeffe had earned a lot of well deserved praise for his steely resolve, his affability and his capacity for thinking "outside the box". He was received very warmly at the recent conference of the Irish Primary Principals' Network. But the special needs controversy has been damaging; it could change the public perception of the Minister.

- Former foreign affairs mandarin, Dermot Gallagher clearly has no intention of easing his way into retirement.

Gallagher, recently nominated as chair of the Garda Ombudsman's Office, was also elected last week as the new chairman of UCD's governing authority. Gallagher's nomination to the €150,000 Ombudsman post attracted some negative publicity because of his €400,000 pay-off from Foreign Affairs and his €126,000 annual pension.

The UCD post, however, is an honorary one which does not attract a salary. It is a clever appointment which will help UCD to bolster its international reach.

Interestingly, Gallagher was on the selection committee which nominated UCD president, Hugh Brady six years ago.

His first task should be to cut the 40 member Governing Authority which includes scores of county councillors and other worthies.

Is there a boardroom in the State with such an unwieldy management team?

- Are our students a bunch of Philistines? A Trinity News survey found that the vast majority of students had never visited the Douglas Hyde Gallery and there was low awareness of arts activities on campus.

Worse still, the vast majority of students polled were drawn from the arts and humanities facilities.