Published: 06 February 2009

Haughey fastens his seatbelt as junior ministerial posts catch public eye

LOUISE HOLDEN

[Source: Irish Times]

THE EDUCATION PROFILE: SEÁN HAUGHEY, MINISTER OF STATE AT THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE: The high cost of all 20 of the Government's junior ministers has attracted huge criticism in recent weeks. Seán Haughey, the junior minister in the Department of Education, is affable and popular. But do his main responsibilites ; school transport and adult education ; justify his large salary?

There are five junior ministers at the Department of Education and Science, but don't waste your time looking for them in Marlborough Street. Only Seán Haughey, the mild-mannered Minister for Lifelong Learning, actually works there, and he keeps a low profile. As one education insider put it: "Haughey doesn't exactly make a nuisance of himself at education".

Every junior minister in the Cabinet has felt the heat of the searchlight this year, as a newly-radicalised electorate starts caring about how government works and how much it costs. The discovery of 20 junior ministers has jangled the public nerves. If we have to manage with old cars and supermarket own-brand cereals, then surely our governmental departments should learn to get by on one minister.

There is a sense that the flowering of junior ministerial posts has served successive leaders as a sort of loyalty scheme. If a back-bencher has been around long enough, a junior ministry is his by right. Party leaders withhold these posts at their peril ; disgruntled bridesmaids with decent constituency support can quickly turn independent or worse.

When Seán Haughey was promoted to the post of Minister of State with Responsibility for Lifelong Learning and School Transport (and later social inclusion) in 2007, it followed a period of disenchantment that threatened to turn mutinous. In 2006 it was reported that Haughey was considering his position in Fianna Fáil after 14 years on the backbench. This former lord mayor of Dublin headed the poll in Dublin North Central in 2002 and he felt that his time had come.

Some commentators believe that Haughey's long gestation period reflected Bertie Ahern's aversion to the Haughey name. Others say that if he was not the son of the former Taoiseach, the gentle Haughey would never have made it on to the political radar. But the public is not asking whether Haughey is helped or hampered by his name. People want to know if he's the right man for the job, and more significantly, is the job worth doing?

"Haughey has no budget and no justification for his role," is the unvarnished judgment of one leading member of the opposition. "He's a nice man, polite and courteous, but he doesn't impress me. He can talk all he likes about the need to abolish fees for adult education, but he can't make anything happen."

One education commentator agrees. "He's not making any impact on either of his so-called areas of responsibility. School transport rolls along nicely under the management of the VECs. Unless there's a change in policy, he has little to do there. As for further education, he won't rock the boat. He's very pliant when it comes to Fianna Fáil policy."

Haughey has been unfortunate in the timing of his promotion. The Trinity economics graduate came into the Department of Education under Minister Mary Hanafin, who famously squashed all resistance and gave no truck to juniors. Since her departure, it's been all about the economy, stupid. Only cost-neutral crusades get the ear of the Minister. Adult education runs on a shoestring as it is, securing less than 2 per cent of the overall budget for education. (Other EU states invest up to 19 per cent.)

"Cinderella" stations such as adult education and mental health often rely on their junior minister as the only voice available to them. One leading player in further education believes that Haughey is a good candidate for a brittle portfolio.

"Primary, secondary and third-level education all have strong lobby groups to speak for them, but adult education has little muscle. It has to compete with some very powerful interests and it's a complex area that few people care to figure out. Haughey has made a genuine effort to get to know the sector. He has been a constant, supportive presence since his appointment and has taken advantage of the fact that Batt O'Keeffe is too caught up in the finances to keep an eye on him. It's essential that this sector retains a junior minister."

However, this commentator concedes that Haughey can have little ultimate influence over policy in this vulnerable area. "I admire him for managing to hold our resources over the last 18 months, but we're a soft target and he may not be able to protect us for too much longer."

Haughey is certainly well-liked. Words such as "mannerly", "likeable" and "affable" attach themselves to mention of his name. No one questions his efficiency or basic decency. A visit to his website reveals that he prides himself in his "nice guy" reputation. There's a section set aside for every positive word that has appeared about him in the media since 1983, regardless of the source.

He proudly displays a Village magazine quote from Richard Bruton that some might regard as damning by faint praise. "He is a diligent constituency worker, he follows up fairly assiduously and he is a good attender of meetings. He is an honest broker, and he'll never rock the boat. He's quiet, he has a sense of humour, and he's easy to get on with."

Among more than 30 press quotes on the website, going back 30 years, Haughey features Olivia O'Leary ("Modest, gentlemanly, not a man to pull a fast political trick"), Nell McCafferty ("Political opponents haven't a bad word to say about him. He has a face you could trust") and Shane Ross ("If he was not his father's son, Seán Haughey, TD would have been promoted long ago").

Beneath all the warm fuzziness, however, is a political edge that Haughey reserves for emergencies. The stance he took against Bertie Ahern in 2006 secured him his ministry. He is capable of defiance when his personal ideology is assailed, as he demonstrated in a spirited attack on his own party's intention to run the M3 through Tara. At the precocious age of 27, he assumed the mayoralty of Dublin.

Haughey has at least nominal responsibility for what could be regarded as Ireland's best hope of long-term economic recovery. As chair of the inter-departmental committee set up to implement the National Skills Strategy, Haughey is charged with leading the drive to upskill 500,000 people by 2020. If he can keep the momentum of the strategy going by sheer force of geniality, he will have done the country some service.

Five go to Marlborough Street

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Published: 06 February 2009

06 February, 2009 - Minister O'Keeffe announces go-ahead for new 16-classroom school in Passage West

[Source: Dept of Education and Science]

Building work will begin this year on a new 16-classroom school for Star of the Sea National School in Passage West, according to the Minister for Education and Science, Batt O'Keeffe TD, who announced the move today.

Speaking at the school, Minister O'Keeffe said: 'Today, I'm announcing a new 16-classroom generic repeat design building for Star of the Sea National School.

'The school will be built on a greenfield site provided by my Department.

'The project will proceed to site later this year following satisfactory completion by the design team of the second stage of the architectural planning process.

'This stage involves finalising the detailed design and the preparation of tender documents.

'My Department will shortly be in contact with the design team about taking the next steps in the process,' said Minister O'Keeffe.

Apart from 16 general classrooms, the new state-of-the-art school will have a general purpose room; PE equipment store; library and resource area; multi-purpose room; special education tuition rooms; general office; teacher and staff room; and a principal's office.

'I want to pay particular tribute to the efforts of my Dáil colleagues, TDs Minister Micheál Martin and Michael McGrath, whose commitment to the new school project has been steadfast.

'This year, I will spend over €600 million on the school building programme across the country - a level of capital investment that reflects this Government's commitment to continuing the programme of sustained investment in primary and post-primary schools.

'It demonstrates our desire to continue investing in the productive capacity of the economy, to create jobs in the construction sector and to provide schoolchildren and teachers with the best educational environment in which to learn and work,' said Minister O'Keeffe.

ENDS

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Published: 06 February 2009

06 January, 2009 - Minister O'Keeffe announces plans for new national higher education strategy

[Source: Dept of Education and Science]

'Steering group to produce blueprint for development of higher education sector over next two decades' - Minister

The Minister for Education and Science, Batt O'Keeffe TD, today announced the launch of a process to develop a new national strategy for higher education which will set out the blueprint for the development of the sector over the next two decades.

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Published: 05 February 2009

Source: Irish Examiner

A €75 million boost to the school building programme could help construction jobs but Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe will have to find almost equal cuts to other aspects of his capital budget.

The extra funding is in addition to €581m already announced for primary and second-level school projects in the 2009 budget in October.

It is likely to allow the minister to offer dozens more schools the chance to progress their refurbishments or new building works this year, on top of those already projected, and may also ease the pressure on communities which have experienced huge growth in pupil numbers in recent years.

Mr O'Keeffe told the Irish Examiner last week he was hopeful of securing additional funding for the schools capital budget as part of the Government's efforts to help the flagging building industry.

However, as part of the €300m capital savings being sought in the economic recovery plan announced by Taoiseach Brian Cowen yesterday, €56m will have to be removed from the Department of Education's €300m non-schools capital spend.

The details have yet to be worked out but the cut will be felt most severely in third level building programmes and in public private partnership (PPP) projects. Mr O'Keeffe announced before Christmas the next six second-level schools and a primary school to be built under the PPP model would be completed within four years, but that could now be in doubt.


"We'll be looking at the specific details of the reductions in these programmes but the minister expects that, due to the very competitive environment in the construction sector, the effect of the reduction in these allocations will be greatly mitigated," a spokes-person said last night.

The minister is also coming under pressure to announce details soon of how much money will be available this year for the previously cancelled Summer Works Scheme.

It is also understood that the details of the 51,000 extra training places for the newly unemployed, which Mr Cowen said will be created, have yet to be finalised.

They are preparing proposals for Government on possibly making vacant places in third-level colleges available as well as providing other opportunities for people to improve their skills and qualifications.

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