Political mettle test for the education minister

The question on everybody’s lips in the education sphere will be whether Jan O’Sullivan can maintain the same kind of favourable treatment for her department’s budget as Ruairi Quinn before her, writes Education Correspondent Niall Murray

WITH less than a month to the 2015 budget, Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan has not yet had a formal meeting with Public Expenditure and Reform Minister Brendan Howlin on her spending requirements.

But much of the detail will be thrashed out over the coming weeks and, since taking over from Ruairi Quinn in July, the Limerick-based minister has already had plenty of meetings with interest groups eager to impress on her the needs of their own particular sectors.