Bigger problems to tackle than half-days

I READ with bemusement recently the decision by Education Minister Noel Dempsey not to sanction the traditional Lord Mayor of Cork’s half-day to thousands of schoolchildren this year.

It is galling to see such a grand old tradition enjoyed by many, including myself, down through the years being axed because it is "not in the spirit" of the changes to school calendar years around the country.

While the need to standardise the school programme is an obvious one, practices such as the lord mayor's half-day rooted in tradition and an obvious way of promoting local politics should be maintained I respectfully suggest the department's time would be better spent putting a stop to other "traditional" practices such as underage drinking by schoolchildren at exam results time and on other countless occasions. It is problems like this, and not the lord mayor's half-day, that should be stamped out.