Irish Examiner view: Misguided plan results in immediate U-turn

Minister for education Hildegarde Naughton said there would be 'no cuts to SNA numbers', and that no further letters about SNAs would be issued to schools until the Government had finished its examination of the matter. Picture: Leon Farrell /Photocall Ireland

The Government’s decision to cut the number of special needs assistants (SNAs) in schools was paused yesterday by education minister Hildegarde Naughton. She said there would be “no cuts to SNA numbers”, and that no further letters about SNAs would be issued to schools until the Government had finished its examination of the matter.

As reported here by Jess Casey, the first schools had already been learning the details of plans to reduce their individual numbers of SNA posts following reviews by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE). The contradictions involved were apparent immediately: Even as schools were to lose SNA posts, the overall number of such posts in the system — including special classes and special schools — was set to increase from September this year.

The consequences of these cuts for individual schools would have been devastating. One school in Dublin pointed out that if the cuts had gone ahead, it would have to contend with a 60% reduction in SNA availability, or weekly support falling from 125 hours to 50 hours.

It is hardly necessary to point out that in Ireland there is an unfortunate but sadly necessary tradition of parents having to fight for the support of children with health and educational challenges; but in the case of SNA support, this appeared to be one battle that had already been won.

The fact that this initiative has been paused, to use the term employed by the minister, is not entirely encouraging. Neither is the Government’s championing what it calls a “robust” NCSE appeals process when it comes to SNA decisions. Such a process necessarily involves an administrative body finding fault with and reversing its own decisions.

In political terms, this is an embarrassment for the Government. The reaction to this decision was so outraged that it had to row back as soon as the details of the plan emerged.

However, in a broader sense, the pause is welcome, because of the potential damage this misguided plan could have inflicted. May this pause become a permanent one.

 

A pioneer of US civil rights rests

The passing of Jesse Jackson at the age of 84 ends a long career at the vanguard of civil rights in America, a career in which he broke new ground as an African-American seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination to run for the US presidency — predating Barack Obama’s successful candidacy by more than 20 years.

Jackson emerged from a recognisable tradition in black public life, coming to prominence first in the 60s as a clergyman with a charismatic, persuasive speaking presence.

He was in Martin Luther King Jr’s company on a motel balcony when the latter was shot and killed in Memphis in 1968, but that also proved to be one of his first brushes with controversy.

Others who were present contested Jackson’s account of being the last person to speak with King as he lay dying, and viewed his account of the day’s events as a bid to gain pre-eminence in the civil rights movement.

His energy and visibility throughout the 70s served him well in the political arena, and he became a central figure in holding the black vote together for the Democratic Party.

In 1984, he sought the Democratic nomination for president — thus becoming the second African-American to do so, after Shirley Chisholm — but was undone by anti-semitic remarks in a newspaper interview. Though he showed up well in the 1988 Democratic primary contests, he lost again, to Michael Dukakis, and was disappointed not to run for the vice-presidency.

Jackson maintained his visibility in American life in later years, not always for the right reasons. Organisations he ran were criticised for pressuring companies for donations — while his son Jesse Jr, a congressman, was sentenced to prison for spending campaign funds on personal items.

Perhaps the best memorial to Jesse Jackson is his own oratory. Even as he lost those bids for the Democratic nomination in 1984 and 1988, he dazzled attendees with his speeches.

“My constituency is the desperate,” said Jackson at the 1984 convention, “the damned, the disinherited, the disrespected, and the despised.”

Hoping for long awaited closure

Excavation work is continuing near a disused quarry near the border of Wicklow and Kildare, as gardaí act on information about burials which may have taken place in the locality.

Gardaí investigating the disappearance and murders of Jo Jo Dullard and Deirdre Jacob are involved in the work, which means those cases are once again in the public eye.

Ms Dullard disappeared in November 1995 between Kilcullen and Moone in Kildare as she tried to make her way home to Callan, Co Kilkenny. Ms Jacob disappeared near the front gates of her parents’ home in Newbridge, Co Kildare, in 1998. Neither have ever been found.

Gardaí recommended that convicted rapist Larry Murphy be charged with the murder of Ms Jacob, but the DPP directed against charges.

The renewed focus on these cases should also remind us of the unimaginable horror the Dullard and Jacob families have endured for decades, not knowing what happened to their loved ones, living in a nightmare of uncertainty.

The grim parallels with other notorious cases such as those of Philip Cairns and Annie McCarrick should strengthen our sympathy for those involved — and should motivate anyone with information, however insignificant that appears, to help with ongoing investigations. The families deserve whatever closure they can achieve in these cases.

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