Open Letter to the Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe T.D.
19th September 2018 | General Secretary's Blog
Open Letter to the Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe T.D. Dear Minister, As you know the annual appearance of the entirely unpredicted black hole in the Health services budget marks the official start of budget negotiation season between the Department of Finance and the other Government Departments. It’s the Government equivalent of senior hurling, […]Read More →
Piece published in Irish Independent – Tackling the sub crisis
25th January 2018 | General Secretary's Blog
Just before Christmas an international study (PIRLS) found that Irish ten-year-olds are among the best in the world when it comes to literacy. The world’s largest comparative study of reading achievement among primary school pupils, found no other EU or OECD country has achieved a score higher than Ireland’s, and only two countries, Singapore and […]Read More →
Social Justice report findings rejected by department – Unpublished letter to the Irish Times
20th November 2017 | General Secretary's Blog
Dear Sir, The Department of Education is quite correct to reject the findings of the recent Bertelsmann Stiftung report which rank Ireland’s education system at 21st of 28 countries. The use in the report of the percentage of GDP spend as a comparator does not give an accurate comparison with other European countries, as the […]Read More →
General Secretary’s Irish Independent Opinion piece
5th September 2017 | General Secretary's Blog
School Yard Spin Last week a Government Spokesperson gave a short but brilliant master class in the art of spin. Responding to (accurate) claims that Ireland was the worst in the class when it came to spending on primary schools he helpfully pointed out that the quoted figures were a percentage of Gross Domestic […]Read More →
