Ciaran’s Peculier [sic] Blog

The reaction to the changes in the medical card entitlements for over 70s have perhaps taken attention away from the idiotic cuts introduced in primary education last week, which will see teacher – pupil ratios skyrocket. The importance of lowering this ratio was recognised over thirty years’ ago by the then (Fianna Fail) minister John P. Wilson, but it seems that we are now rowing back in the gains of the past.

Any government that messes with primary education is deserving of a very large dunce’s cap, and they should be put out of the class altogether to stand in the hallway. The fact that we have in Ireland a well-educated population is the single most important factor of our prosperity in recent years – tax rates and “positive business climate” have very little to do with it, and if that goes we’ll just be another also-ran trying to attract inward investment. Primary education is the most important part of the educational system - screw it up and it’s very hard to make it right later on.