Ruairi Quinn got wrong portfolio

Tuesday, 21 June 2011 13:30

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I'm beginning to think that the Minister for Education, Ruairi Quinn, got the wrong portfolio in the new government. He should have been appointed Minister for Enterprise or judging by some of his comments he should be managing director of some profitable, stand alone successful Irish company.
Last week he took a crack shot at parents and boards of management of schools, saying they didn't do enough to look after their children's schools. Whoever said that the schools all our kids attended belonged to the parents or boards of management? He referred to parents who had trophy homes with three cars in the driveways while their schools were run down or rat infested.
Did the Health and Safety Authority not inform Mr. Quinn when he took up his position that responsibility for our schools and the health and safety of children in schools was the responsibility of the Department of Education, not the responsibility of parents or boards of management?
The minister suggested that Boards of Management take a more active part in financing schools, maybe placing rat poison in 200-year-old schools or standing at church gates collecting money to help pay for the toilet rolls and hand towels because the people responsible, the Department of Education, don't have the money because its squandered on useless projects.
The ministers attitude comes across as the Abraham Lincoln battle cry "think not of what your school can do for you rather what you can do for your school".
Its time we got a life and started living in the real world. While ministers and department officials built super luxury jails and detention centres for our criminals, rat infested 200 year old dilapidated schools seem to be OK for our young school goers.
Teachers, parents and boards of management play a huge role in undertaking work that is the responsibility of the Department of Education or the Board of Works yet we never hear unions object to the fact that people working on boards of management are doing jobs their members should be doing. The simple reason is that boards of management, like Tidy Towns volunteers, work for nothing so unions and ministers are happy to see volunteers work for nothing even if they are taking jobs from others.
Having worked in the shanty townships of South Africa I always marvelled at their quality of schools and education facilities, which are the stepping stone in life for all our young people. Why do some of our schools resemble third world facilities in a country that was the envy of the world because of our wealth?
Because no one shouts stop and demands that people take responsibility and are held accountable. The minister's comments that parents have two or three cars parked in their driveways have no bearing on how his department runs and finances our schools. Maybe if these people sold two of the three cars and walked to work our schools would be in a different league and better financed.
Millions have been spent on renting prefab classrooms over many years when top of the range classrooms could be built for less money. New school places have become a major problem and a priority for the minister. Maybe he didn't realise that children are born everyday and after five years they will need a place in some school somewhere.
Did anyone not tell him there is a registration of births so he can plan for the facilities that will be needed? While we have close to 500,000 out of work and another 200,000 who migrated it's not plausible to suggest that we don't have people around to help maintain the upkeep of our schools.
What amazes so many people is that our Health and Safety Authority have one set of rules for private businesses and no set of rules for public departments. Should boards of management not close down dangerous schools? Is it the job of principals or boards of management to seek donations to pay for the day-to-day commodities that are needed?
Will this scenario have a knock on affect in a world where money seems to be unavailable for vital work, while it can be squandered on PR consultants and advisors? Will the patients in our hospitals be told by the Minister for Health that it's their hospital and get up off their arses and do your bit to keep your hospital open and financed?