Rising to the challenge

Brigid McManus is the first female head of the Department of Education, and after two months she is already making a difference, writes Sean Flynn.

Thirty years ago, married women were forced to leave the civil service. But today Brigid McManus is the first female secretary general of the Department of Education and Science.

Although Brigid McManus has been in the post for less than two months, there is already a strong sense across the department that she is shaking things up.

McManus is known to dislike the media focus on her achievement in breaking through the glass ceiling which confronts women in the workplace. Ask her about her achievement and she will, say colleagues, talk about her experience and her ability. The female thing is almost a non-issue when you think of her outstanding track record, says one source.

Brigid McManus (46), who is married and has one child, is steeped in a long tradition of public service. Her father was a senior civil servant and her mother also worked there, although she was forced to quit her post in the 1950s because of the marriage ban. Two sisters and a brother are in various branches of the civil service.

Educated at Manor House School in Raheny, north Dublin, she excelled at maths and science subjects before opting for a history and economics degree at UCD. After graduation in the late 1970s, she joined the civil service as an administrative officer in the Department of Finance.

McManus rose swiftly through the ranks, making it to assistant secretary at the age of 42. She has spent much of her working life in Merrion Street and is known to have few regrets.

Asked about a career in the public service, she once said: "The civil service is a fascinating and very challenging place to work. It is a job where you can make a real difference and where you have a job which has real significant. I am not saying that other jobs don't give you this but the excitement and challenge of working in the civil service is not widely recognised."

Although not widely known to the general public, McManus is a popular and widely known figure right across the civil service. In part, this owes much to her involvement in EU business which saw her engage with virtually every government department over the past decade. McManus was involved in every aspect of the government's bid for structural funding for the 1994-99 period - which covered the famous €8 billion for infrastructure and other supports.

She is hugely proud, say colleagues, of what was achieved during this period. She would talk a great deal, says one source, about how various government departments pulled together for the sake of Ireland Inc. She is a great believer in teamwork and also values a strong, strategic policy approach.

This can be traced back, in part, to an 16-month period she spent in the early 1990s with the French civil service. McManus is said to have been hugely impressed with the French ability to formulate strong coherent policies. She was less taken with the hierarchical nature of the French civil service.

McManus also moved out of the Department of Finance a decade ago, working as a principal officer in the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht. She is said to have greatly enjoyed her period dealing with the various national cultural institutions. She was closely involved in the development of the new Collins Barracks National Museum facility. The then minister, Síle de Valera, appointed her as special policy adviser in 1997.

On her return to the Department of Finance, she played a key role in helping to defend the Republic's low corporation tax regime in negotiations in Brussels and took charge of the tax policy division.

In January, she was one of eight senior civil servants interviewed for the secretary general post in the Department of Education. Surprisingly, only one of the five assistant secretaries from the Department applied for the post, made vacant by the retirement of John Dennehy.

In the run-up to the appointment, there was intense speculation that the Government favoured giving the post to an outsider, someone who would "freshen up" the department, as one source put it. There was little surprise when McManus's appointment was announced.

She now comes to a department which has a curious image problem. Instead of being lauded as the engine of our economic success, the Department of Education tends to be seen, often unfairly, as conservative and inward-looking. She will be anxious to address this image problem, which obscures much of what has been achieved.

Her top priority, though, is to ensure that the Department delivers the kind of medium and long-term strategic thinking which is required in such a key area. Three years ago, an internal report said senior officials in Marlborough Street often lacked the breathing space to frame strategic policy - because of the pressure of events.

McManus has told colleagues she does not want the important to be pushed aside in the rush to deal with the urgent. She wants a dynamic Department of Education and Science to be at the heart of this State's economic and social progress.

It is no small task but few doubt her capacity.

De Valera, now the Minister of State for Education says: "Brigid is very, very capable. She has a tremendous capacity for work and a great eye for detail, especially on the finance side. She is very good at helping ministers deliver on their policy priorities. She will be a great success."

Top Women

The appointment of Brigid McManus means two secretary general posts in Government are held by women. Julie O'Neill is secretary general at the Department of Transport.

However, Finola Flanagan occupies the broadly similar role of director general at the Office of the Attorney General, and Ms Josephine Feehily is one of two commissioners or secretaries general with the Revenue Commissioners.

In all, just four women have held the most senior post in a Government department. Thekla Beere was the first woman to take such a post in the late 1960s, in Transport. Margaret Hayes was secretary general of Arts, Sport and Tourism until her retirement three years ago.