School funding - Change your mind Minister

THE Green Party’s insistence that third-level college fees not be reintroduced may have bruised Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe’s standing but if he persists with measures that damage Protestant schools he will have severely damaged his own and what is left of his government’s reputation.

He will also damage the unity of this society.

He has pathetically chosen to hide behind the shield of advice he says was give by the attorney general even though his colleague Dr Michael Woods did not even seek such advice much less hide behind it when he agreed the scandalous compensation deal with Catholic congregations over child abuse claims.

Even in these straitened times it is impossible to pretend that history has not had a profound impact on Irish Protestantism. The funding arrangements that Mr O’Keeffe has ended are no more than an appropriate response to that fact. Great progress has been made on this island in building bridges between once-divided communities. Mr O’Keeffe’s decision damages that and there is no point in pretending they do not.

His proposals seem especially suspicious as the sums involved are tiny compared to the cost of sustaining this Republic’s untouchable herd of white elephants.

Change your mind Mr O’Keeffe, by so doing you would represent the view of the majority.

You would be doing the right thing as well.