A portfolio too far for Ruairi Quinn?

Ruairi Quinn railed against Church patrons and inequality in education. But his follow-through often seemed ineffective as he got tangled up in his desire to appear ‘responsible’, writes Conor Ryan

THE irony of Ruairi Quinn’s legacy is that his greatest contribution to the education sector was made long before he became responsible for the portfolio.

Then when he did take charge of the Department of Education, he spent much of his time in office defending actions that eroded his own party’s greatest policy victory — the abolition of third-level fees.