Originally Posted by jmcc

Par for the course really - wasn't she a school teacher?

Regards...jmcc

I don't think she taught anything wasn't she in career guidence [like her predecessor Noel Dempsey]?

Originally Posted by Silvio Dante

All of the Senior Civil Servants were on the editor's cutting floor.

So you never got to see how the Department really works...

All you got to see were the 4 or 5 hand picked (by the minister) staff who spend their lives "protecting" the minister. We will take the red card for him FFS - you would swear their lives were on the line. Apart from the PR guru lady, who was introduced half way through the programme, all of the others seemed ineffective or incompotent.

I think this programme shows the real cost of ministers and junior ministers. It is not the cost of the minister and the car and the two drivers and the office based staff in his constituency but the cost of 4 or 5 additional full time staff buzzing around them day and night. It must add up to well over half a million euro per minister and junior minister. Sad thing is that we are paying for these incompetents.

It would take a real fool to look bad with that numer of support staff. Quinn went quite close to looking like one.

Originally Posted by uriah

Probably because it wasn't true.
I have never yet seen a proper breakdown of the figures - I wonder why that is?

Because the VECs are big black holes and are largely unaccountable at the top level, who knows how much money is spent on fripperies and misspent otherwise.

Originally Posted by BrightDay

All you got to see were the 4 or 5 hand picked (by the minister) staff who spend their lives "protecting" the minister.

That was the editorial decision I presume...

Originally Posted by RobertW

I think the Minister deserves some credit for opening the doors to what goes on and he managed to get the cameras in where others probably were not comfortable with them there.

He did come across as open and, to this extent, it won't do his image that much harm.

It makes a big difference from when Mary Hanafin was minister and reminding everyone that "I'm the boss". . . The day that woman lost her seat was a great day for this country.

Robert, wouldnt agree with that.

Thought it showed a lot of advisers sitting round thinking of ways to protect the minister
rather than planning education matters.

The disconnect between the elites and advisers and those protesting was the lasting impression
and the sight of all those advisers marching in behind quinn at the teachers conferences was a
bit pathetic.

I like Quinn as he was a very good minister for finance but last night did him no favours.

Originally Posted by Silvio Dante

That was the editorial decision I presume...

I am not so sure - all ministers, and junior ministers have the "safety/steering" group of 4 or 5. That is just the way it is.

Originally Posted by Silvio Dante

She's perfectly entitled to it as I will unashamedly claim my well earned pension package when its my turn...

well therein lies the problem and we'll have to agree to differ, taxpayer funding a huge retirement package for civil servants and policiticiansyears and years before non public sector "normal" employees is not remotely fair or just.

Originally Posted by Keith-M

...and the jury is still out on Shatter....

...until he abolishes them.

Originally Posted by Keith-M

There's an unwritten law in politics, you never make a teacher the Minister for Education, you never make a lawyer the Minister for Justice and you never make a doctor the Minister for Health. The reason is that they come to he role with a set agenda as an insider rather than seeing the role as a representative of the public interests.

Hanafin was poor in Education (she was actually better in Welfare), Reilly has been a disaster in Health and the jury is still out on Shatter. He must take some of the blame for the Oireachtas Inquiry referendum fiasco.

We need people with an in-depth knowledge of everything, who are open-minded, have vision, a sense of fairness, a complete lack of prejudice.......

You should offer your services.

They're following the minister to find out what's going on in the department? LOL.

They might as well ask a woman what's going on at a football match.