Capable but not spectacular. Works hard on the constituency bread and butter issues.
Great friend and drinking buddy of Cowen.
Also strategic as Cork NW was until recently two FG and one FF and would be vulnerable to revert again. Probably FG's no 1 target seat in Munster (certainly South Munster) and having a minister in there will shore things up.

Will he show more Compassion and Flexibility than Hannafin especially regarding Autism and Other Special Needs Children ?
Anybody got any insights here ?
I (Father of Autiistic Boy) am Delighted that she is gone

Batt is a former lecturer at Cork IT so I assume that the third level dons will have their feet in the door on this occasion. Odds to lengthen on university of the south east.

I'm glad a third level lecturer is in the education department. Much better than hanafin anyway.

But I think he's not the best media performer. Even though I'm from Cork myself I think his accent and manner of speaking sound very wishie-washie. And he let himself down very badly late last year with the spoofery about 'Never been a better time to buy a house'.....

Watched him replying to questions on rented housing a week or two ago and saw him on a prime time programme some weeks ago---thought they were the poorest performances Ihave seen in years and Ihave seen some bad ones---fear that Education has been sold a pup---seriously doubt that he is up to it.

is he a god botherer too?

want his position on creating a public education system(for the first time in ireland)

what his position on secularisation of education.

Originally Posted by just_society

I'm glad a third level lecturer is in the education department. Much better than hanafin anyway.

But I think he's not the best media performer. Even though I'm from Cork myself I think his accent and manner of speaking sound very wishie-washie. And he let himself down very badly late last year with the spoofery about 'Never been a better time to buy a house'.....

I think he lectured in Biochemistry so you'd expect Batt to be a bit more formal and articulate in his contributions. He doesn't come across as a science techie but at least the man has a qualification in science. I was at a convention where Batt was presiding and he disappointed me with the condescending remark he made (unwittingly) to one of the candidates seeking a nomination.

"There's a feisty speech" ...he said, to a candidate who had spoken from the heart why he/she should be chosen to run in an election. It came across to me as facetious and a sort of put down to the candidate. In other words the candiate shouldn't be bothered putting their name forward cause we all can have a laugh.

Anyway, I don't know a whole lot about him and I can't think of anything memorable that he championed. That's not to say the guy hasn't any achievements. Just that I haven't heard any he was associated with.

Batt O’Keeffe's appointment looks like an act of political violence against the South East. The region remembers sorely the last Cork man in that role- Michael Martin took the IoT differential away from Waterford back in 1998 when he renamed all the RTCs- IoT, which was the first step towards university status, and the first big knock back. Another Cork man does not bode well, especially a former CIT lecturer. While Hanafin could barely hide her contempt for the application, O'Keeffe will have a tougher time dealing with this issue fairly.

All due respect to the man but I have to admit i've never heard of him before!

Former Oireachtas health committee chair. Cowen's boozing buddy. Another culchie mediocrity promoted for no other reason than he's not from Dublin and he's a mate of Cowen.