Teacher's Pet

An insider's guide to education

• The Marino affair has become the biggest education story in the country - inflicting huge collateral damage along the way. The Christian Brothers have suffered a series of PR reversals. Joe O'Toole's performance on that excellent Prime Time special must have been the final straw.

The formidable reputation of consultants Farrell Grant Sparks (FGS) has also been dented. FGS, whose report found no evidence of bullying, was seen to align itself with, shall we say, less progressive forces.

Ironically, the FGS report was completed by Tom Murray, a hugely popular and respected ex-teacher who is also chair of the National Council on Special Needs.

FGS did get one key fact right. In essence, Marino is about a power struggle between the overall Institute of Education and the teacher training college, Coláiste Mhuire. There is no sign that either side will give up a fight, now laced with raw emotion.

• That one-hour interview given by Mary Hanafin to The Pat Kenny Show will take some beating. When can you recall a government minister performing so smoothly and being so obviously comfortable in the brief?

It was a reminder - as if it were needed - that Hanafin is destined for very high office, that is if the election goes the right way for Fianna Fáil.

Did someone mention Hanafin as the next Minister for Enterprise and Employment? This would give her CV the economic ministry she needs.

• Huge relief out in UCD after a 10 per cent rise in student applications in the latest CAO figures.

The surge in applications is a huge plus for embattled Belfield boss Hugh Brady, who must still wrestle with some refuseniks among academic staff.

Only one question. How much did UCD spend on that marketing campaign, rolled out on billboards and on radio as the kids filled in the CAO application form in January?

Any advance on €400,000?

• Speaking of those CAO figures . . . Could someone remind the Galway-based body that they have a responsibility to the public - and not just to the marketing men at the various third-level colleges?

As usual, this year's figures gave no information whatever on how individual colleges are doing. Why? Because the marketing men at the universities don't like this information reaching the public.

What about the CAO's wider responsibility to the public who support these colleges through their taxes?

• Got any education gossip? E-mail us, in confidence, at teacherspet@irish-times.ie