O’Malley ‘bombshell’ most effective policy by any minister ever
Fifty years ago tomorrow Donogh O’Malley, then education minister, formally outlined to the Dáil his plans for free secondary education in this country. This was arguably the single most effective initiative ever taken by any Irish minister.
Just 6% of the population ever went beyond a primary education while this country was part of the United Kingdom. For the next four decades of independence, the various Irish governments considered a primary education sufficient for all but a tiny minority.
In the 1920s, efforts were made to boost vocational schools, but the Catholic hierarchy frustated those efforts by blocking the students in those schools from sitting either the Intermediate or Leaving Certificate examinations. The bishops sought to ensure that the free vocational schools did not pose a challenge to established Catholic schools.
The governments of WT Cosgrave and Éamon de Valera took no educational initiatives that might “upset the status quo and lead to difficulties with Church authorities”, according to Brian Fleming’s recent book, Irish Education 1922-2007: Cherishing All The Children. For over 40 years, Irish governments failed the vast majority of children, despite the Easter Proclamation declaring “equal rights and equal opportunities of all its citizens”. The promise to cherish “all the children of the nation equally” was simply ignored.
In the 1930s, the language issue dominated public discussion on education. Tom Derrig, the Fianna Fáil minister for education, tried to implement “free” secondary education in the Gaeltacht areas, but this was blocked by the bishops. As of 1940, primary school was still the sole source of education for over 90% of the population. The real catalyst for change came from Britain, when RA Butler raised the school-leaving age to 15 and announced the intention of increasing it to 16 as soon as possible. This gave rise to serious reflection among officials of the Department of Education in Dublin. De Valera’s cabinet decided on October 31, 1947, to adopt a similar approach, but the legislation raising the leaving age to 15 was not implemented until 1972, almost 25 years later, and it took over 50 years to raise it to 16 in 2000.
The State was initially providing “only free primary education”, Seán MacBride, the leader of the republican/socialist party Clann na Poblachta, complained during the 1948 general election campaign.
“I wonder if you realise,” he asked a rally in Co Donegal on January 19, 1948, “that the poorest among you pay for the university education of some of the wealthiest people in the country? Every student who passes through a university received in effect a subsidy from the taxes paid by you.”
MacBride promised that Clann na Poblachta would introduce free secondary and free university education. But these promises were promptly forgotten after Clann na Poblachta joined the national government weeks later.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, a series of ministers — Jack Lynch, Paddy Hillery, and George Colley — recognised the need for educational change but they did little about trying to broaden the educational base. Serious reform was obviously necessary.
Political pressure for change mounted on the Fianna Fáil government in 1965 when Fine Gael introduced its new policy document, Towards a Just Society. Taoiseach Seán Lemass appointed Donogh O’Malley as minister for education on July 7, 1966.
“We expected fast and furious action,” Seán O’Connor, the assistant secretary of the Department of Education, recalled. But all were surprised by the pace of the new minister.
Without even consulting the Cabinet, O’Malley announced plans for free secondary education on September 10, 1966, at a seminar of the National Union of Journalists, at the Royal Marine Hotel in Dún Laoghaire.
“Every year some 17,000 of our children finishing their primary school course do not receive any further education,” O’Malley told the meeting.
“This means that almost one in three of our future citizens are cut off at this stage from the opportunities of learning a skill, and denied the benefits of cultural development that go with further education.
“This is a dark stain on our national conscience,” he said. “I believe that this is a situation which must be tackled with all speed and determination. And I am glad to be able to announce tonight that I am drawing up a scheme under which, in future, no boy or girl in this State will be deprived of full educational opportunity — from primary to university level — by reason of the fact that the parents cannot afford to pay for it.
“I intend, also, to make provision whereby no pupil will, for lack of means, be prevented from continuing his or her education up to the end of the Leaving Certificate course.
“I propose that assistance towards the cost of books and accessories will be given, through the period of his or her course, to the student on whom it would be a hardship to meet all such costs.
“Finally,” the minister continued, “there is the university level. While I do not at this stage wish to say anything which might cut across the recommendations of the Commission on Higher Education, I cannot let the occasion pass without referring to the plight of the pupil who has reached a good standard in the Leaving Certificate examination but, who, due to the inability of his parents to pay, cannot proceed to a university or other course of high education.”
The then Cork Examiner, which described the minister’s announcement as “a bombshell”, warmly welcomed his initiative in its lead editorial. He certainly captured the public imagination with his announcement.
“I believe that it is essential for a government from time to time to propound bold new policies which would catch the imagination of the people,” O’Malley later explained. He had certainly succeeded, especially as Fine Gael was promoting Towards a Just Society.
O’Malley stole the Blueshirt thunder and, as a result it was virtually impossible for his Cabinet colleagues not to support his initiative. O’Malley had forewarned Seán Lemass of his plans. When the Taoiseach did not object, O’Malley took this as approval.
TK Whitaker, the influential secretary of the Department of Finance, protested to the Taoiseach that O’Malley had not consulted the department. “While he did not expressly say so, I deduced from what he said (and the smile on his face) that he had personally authorised Donogh O’Malley to make this accouncement,” Whitaker noted.
Changes since 1916 had been lauded during the recent golden jubilee celebrations, but the changes in education had clearly been far from revolutionary. Successive governments had failed miserably to cherish all the children of the nation equally.
Politicians had not been prepared to confront the attitude of Catholic hierarchy. All this begs the question: Why were the hierarchy so indifferent to the educational welfare of Irish children?
Should anyone be really surprised now that we know the hierarchy displayed an even more callous disregard for the welfare of children who were being abused in Church-run institutions during this era?
