If the minister knows it all, why is he out there?

THE shelves of the Department of Education and Science are groaning with expert reports, whose recommendations have not been implemented, despite the fact that they were commissioned at huge cost to the taxpayer.

Last Thursday, I attended the first meeting in the YES Process (Your Education System, "a national process of consultation on the future shape of education") in Galway.

It was hosted by the Minister for Education and Science, Noel Dempsey, and was attended by many people with an interest in education parents, teachers, principals and some students.