MANY SENIOR ministers in the current Cabinet attended fee-paying schools. Of the 14 ministers, six attended schools such as Clongowes, Blackrock College and King’s Hospital, Palmerstown.
Clongowes Wood College in Kildare has two alumni among the ministers – Richard Bruton and Simon Coveney. Coveney also attended the Presentation Brothers College in Mardyke, Cork.
Blackrock College, Co Dublin boasts Minister for Education and Skills Ruairí Quinn; Alan Shatter, Minister for Justice and Equality attended the High School in Rathgar, Dublin; Minister for Health James Reilly attended Gormanston College in Meath and Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar was educated in Kings Hospital, Palmerstown, Dublin.
All told, over 40 per cent of Cabinet members attended fee-paying schools, compared to just seven per cent of the general population.
Of course, some Cabinet members paid for their post-primary education, as there were no other options at the time. Free second-level education was not introduced until 1967 and therefore, anyone who entered secondary school before then, technically paid for all or part of their education. They had no other choice.
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore, for example, attended the then fee-paying Garbally College in Ballinasloe on a scholarship.
Even before the advent of free education in 1967 some schools were more exclusive and charged more. Many opted to remain outside of the free education scheme and became what we now know as fee-paying schools.
For this article, schools that joined the voluntary scheme in the late 1960s are regarded as free, even if the minister in question attended at a time when fees were charged. Eamon Gilmore is counted as having had a free education although fees were paid. Garbally College is a now non-fee paying school.
Ruairí Quinn is counted as having had a fee-paying education in Blackrock College, as the school was more expensive than other options at the time.
Pat Rabbitte, Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources
Rabbitte attended St Colman’s College, Claremorris. Secondary education wasn’t free when he was in secondary school but he gained a scholarship which enabled him to attend. He is not counted among the ministers who received a private education.
St Colman’s is another well-known Mayo school with a good academic record. Its third level progression rate (98 per cent) is outstanding.
After school he went to UCG (now NUIG) and became involved in student politics. He was a trade union official before becoming a TD.
Eamon Gilmore, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs
Gilmore boarded in Garbally College in Ballinasloe. He attended the Leaving Cert graduation ceremony in the college last year and was presented with a token of appreciation by headmaster Seamus O’Brien. Before entering politics, Gilmore was a trade union official. His children attended non-feepaying schools.
Frances Fitzgerald, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs
Fitzgerald attended the Dominican College, Sion Hill, Blackrock, Co Dublin – a non fee-paying school. Although it was a fee-paying school at the time, it joined the voluntary scheme in the late 1960s. The school – where former education minister Mary Hanafin was once on the teaching staff – experienced a sharp drop in enrolment during the Celtic Tiger years. But student numbers have soared in recent years as the school is highly regarded locally. Fitzgerald went to UCD and the London School of Economics. She was a social worker before becoming a politician.
Enda Kenny, Taoiseach
The Taoiseach completed his secondary education in St Gerald’s College, Castlebar. Run by the De La Salle Brothers, it is a voluntary secondary school with a strong academic record. All of its graduating students went on to third-level last year.
He studied in St Patrick’s College of Education, Drumcondra, working briefly as a primary school teacher before going into politics.
Jimmy Deenihan, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht
Deenihan was educated at the non fee-paying St Michaels’s College, Listowel. It’s a school with a good reputation, sending 86 per cent of its students on to third-level last year.
He qualified as a teacher in the Thomond College of Education in Limerick and taught at Tarbert Comprehensive in Kerry before being elected.
Richard Bruton, Minister for Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation
Bruton was educated by the Jesuits, first in Belvedere College and later in Kildare’s Clongowes Wood College – both fee-paying. He features in a book called Old Clongownians published by LLC Press.
He went on to study economics and politics in UCD before gaining a Masters in economics from Oxford University. Bruton worked as a research economist before becoming a TD.
Phil Hogan, Minister for Environment Community and Local Government
Hogan attended St Kieran’s College, a non fee-paying boys’ school in Kilkenny city. The school also counts Hollywood actor Ralph Fiennes among its alumni; he would have been a year or two behind Hogan.
St Kieran's is a noted hurling academy and is among the top schools in The Irish TimesFeeder School List, sending 98 per cent of its students to third-level last year.
Hogan went on to UCC where he studied for a BA before qualifying as a teacher. He declined to answer whether he opted to educate his child privately.
Simon Coveney, Minister for Agriculture, Marine and Food
Coveney attended fee-paying Clongowes Wood College, Kildare, but was expelled in his transition year. He has told how, after already having received a warning for drinking, he and some friends absconded from school to attend a party – it was the last straw for the school.
He subsequently finished his post-primary education in the fee-paying Presentation Brothers’ College, Cork.
Later he attended UCC, and Gurteen Agricultural College, Tipperary, gaining a BSc in Agriculture and Land Management from Royal Agriculture College, Gloucestershire.
Prior to entering politics he worked on the family farm in Mallow and also for period as an agri-food advisor in an agricultural college in Scotland.
Michael Noonan, Minister for Finance
Michael Noonan was educated in St Patrick’s Secondary School in Glin, Co Limerick. Although the school would have required fees, there were no other options at the time so
Noonan is not counted among the ministers who paid fees. The school itself is now closed. He then went to St Patrick’s College Drumcondra and completed a BA and a HDip in UCD before working for a time as a secondary school teacher
Brendan Howlin, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Howlin attended his local school, the non fee-paying Wexford CBS. The school has a good academic record, sending 70 percent of its students to third level last year. Howlin visited the school earlier this year to raise its newly-awarded green flag, a scheme which acknowledges environmental activity.
Another graduate of St Patricks College Drumcondra, Howlin worked as a primary school teacher before becoming a TD.
James Reilly, Minister for Health
Reilly attended the fee-paying Gormanston College in Co Meath. It is a Franciscan run boarding school with a strong population of international students. Charlie McCreevey and Hollywood star Colin Farrell are among its alumni.
Reilly went on to study medicine in RCSI and worked as a GP in North Dublin for 25 years. He was also president of the IMO before being elected.
Joan Burton, Minister for Social Protection
Burton is one of the few Dublin ministers not to have received a fee-paying education.
She went to St Joseph’s Sisters of Charity Secondary School, Stanhope Street. She has spoken of her time there, recalling how as a tall child, she was always selected to carry the flag for the school’s annual May Procession. Other alumni include broadcaster Pat Kenny and Oscar-winner Brenda Fricker.
After school she went to UCD and worked as an accountant (she was one of the first female chartered accountants in Ireland) and a lecturer before entering politics.
Leo Varadkar, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport
Varadkar attended the fee-paying King’s Hospital School in Palmerstown. It’s a well- known school sending most or all of its students on to third-level each year. Old school mates have described him as “very bright and not afraid to show it’’.
Varadkar studied medicine in TCD. In his second year in university, at the age of 20, he ran in the local elections and got 400 votes.
He went on to qualify as a GP before becoming a TD.
Alan Shatter, Minister for Justice and Equality
Shatter attended the High School on Zion Road, Rathgar, a fee-paying school which always features close to the top of the annual feeder school lists. He was the High School’s athletics captain for two years.
Shatter went on to study in TCD and practised as a solicitor before entering politics.
Ruairí Quinn, Minister for Education and Skills
Quinn was an outstanding student at Blackrock College and a member of the senior cup rugby team.
Despite winning an athletics scholarship to Berkeley in California, he opted to study architecture at UCD. He worked as an architect before entering politics. His children were educated in both public and private schools.
Third level
UCDis the dominant college with four ministers.
St Patrick's College, Drumcondratwo alumni in the Cabinet, including the Taoiseach.
NUIG, TCDand UCCalso have two alumni each, with Thomond College Limerick and RCSI having one minister each.
Children in fee-paying schools?
With the exception of James Reilly, Fine Gael ministers refused to disclose this information, which they regard as a private matter. Dr Reilly said his children attend fee-paying schools. Labour ministers with children in fee-paying schools include Ruairí Quinn, Joan Burton and Pat Rabbitte. Both Mr Quinn and Mr Rabbitte said they had children in both fee-paying and non-fee paying schools.
