Ireland’s Economic Success – founded on education and pain:

Donough O'Malley - Ireland's pioneering Minister for Education

I saw an article recently which listed and compared the world's top economies. There were two listings, the world's biggest economies and the world's richest economies. In terms of the world's biggest economy, the obvious largest was the United States, followed by China and so on. Naturally, Ireland didn't feature in this listing at all as it only went down to about number 20. But in the other list, which was the world's richest countries, Ireland came in at number two, just behind Luxembourg and marginally ahead of Switzerland. I was astonished at this initially; I was aware that Ireland is a reasonably well off country nowadays, but I didn't realize that we were that high in the ratings.

On closer examination, I would suspect that a lot of that wealth, and a lot of the resources that we have is as a result of the huge corporate taxes paid by the big multinationals, particularly the big tech companies that are located in Ireland such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, Intel and others. There was a huge court case at European level a couple of years ago where Apple were ordered to pay the Irish government six billion euro in taxes because they had repatriated monies to the United States on business which had been transacted through Ireland and not paid any tax on it. Both Apple and the Irish government actually appealed the decision to the European Court. I think the reason the Irish government did so was because they didn't want to offend Apple or Google or any of these people. They wanted to continue to encourage inward investment from high quality firms and for them to have their special tax status. But despite several appeals, they all failed, and the money had to be paid to the Irish exchequer. Subsequently, both Apple and Google and Microsoft and all the other big multinationals continued to locate here and are continuing to pay taxes to the Irish government on business transacted through Ireland, because the tax regime is far more favorable in Ireland than it is in the United States or wherever these multinationals are headquartered. But this is just an introduction.

As they are all still here, I would like to think that these firms locate in Ireland not just for the tax benefit. In reality, there are probably three reasons: Firstly, we all speak English. Second, we're part of the EU and thirdly, we have arguably one of the best education systems in the world, which is largely free. I know there are some fees to be paid at third level, but it's effectively free, and it produces excellent graduates. Not all of them stay at home but that is a choice nowadays, not like previous generations who were forced to emigrate.

Some people still go overseas, but those that do stay at home are generally assured of a pretty bright future because there are so many multinational companies looking for good graduates, and these people pay excellent money. I've seen the salaries due to some other work I undertook with an Irish State Agency. I dread to think of where our economy would be or where it might go should these companies ever withdraw from Ireland. But let’s not be negative – there are distinct advantages for both the companies and the Irish economy so it is unlikely that there will be any major changes any time soon. So, how did we reach this juncture, given that until the 1980’s and even into the 1990’s, the Irish economy was sluggish and hugely under-performing; the country was poor and the main outlet was emigration to Britain, the USA or mainland Europe.

To establish the genesis of the change, we need to go back farther. In the 1960s, Ireland introduced key education reforms that transformed its workforce development:

1. Free Secondary Education: In 1967, the government made secondary education free, dramatically increasing access. This was largely credited to Minister Donogh O'Malley, who eliminated school fees and also introduced free school transportation.

2. Comprehensive Education System: The policy expanded from only free primary education to free secondary and later tertiary education, creating a more inclusive educational system.

3. High-Quality Curriculum: The Irish education system is now considered to be one of the best globally, producing excellent graduates who are attractive to multinational employers. The free education system effectively created a skilled talent pool that became a key economic development strategy.

4. English Language Advantage: Being an English-speaking country and joining the EU has made Ireland particularly appealing to international tech companies.

These policies resulted in a well-educated workforce that could support high-tech multinational companies who now pay significant taxes in Ireland and recruit locally.

While a lot of people give the credit directly to Donogh O'Malley, I guess it was a collective decision, and we have to be grateful to the government of the day for their foresight. Subsequent governments continued that vision by effectively eliminating all third-level educational fees. The result is that we have the highest level of University graduates per capita in the world.

I was fortunate (?) to be in at the start of this revolution so allow me digress at this point and recall how it worked for me personally. I commenced Secondary School on the third of September 1967. I remember it as an exciting day. I literally bounced into secondary school. Kilkenny had beaten Tipperary in the All-Ireland hurling final the day before for the first time in over forty years so everyone was in good form; I had just ‘escaped’ a particularly violent primary school teacher who should never have been allowed into a classroom (remember, corporal punishment was very much the order of the day). So I was hopeful and looking forward to a new regime. It was the very first day that free secondary education was available. But not only that, as I previously mentioned, there was also free school bus transport. I had a bus to pick me up from home and transport me to school, unlike my four sisters before me, who had had to cycle the four miles to secondary school. On a personal basis, I was lucky in that I would have been educated anyway, because my parents believed in education, and they had already paid fees to have my siblings educated at secondary level.

Unfortunately, that was where my good luck ended. While the government had introduced free secondary schooling, the schools were totally unprepared for the huge influx that resulted. I remember in my first year class, there were 44 boys in it. Apparently, in the previous year there had been 12 to 15 per class. It didn't really get any better as we went through second and third years. There was no fourth year, but there was a fifth and sixth year. Some people dropped out and some classes were split and as the schools began recruiting more teachers, by fifth year, they had class sizes down to about 30 and there was space to breathe.

Class sizes meant less attention per individual student but it was fine to that extent. We made do with what we had. Of course that wasn't the main problem at all. The main issue was that the education of the nation’s children was entrusted to groups of people largely controlled and managed by the Catholic Church. Many of these were called Christian Brothers, a misnomer if ever there was one. Our school was run by the De La Salle brothers. Same thing – weird people dressed in black, who were totally unsuited to and had no idea how to educate. To be fair to them, these guys had been locked away since they had been recruited to the ‘brotherhood’ in their early teens and were totally frustrated, probably in every sense. Unfortunately, because of the introduction of free secondary education, they were given an unlimited supply of young people on which to take out their frustrations – us.

Now whether there's any difference between De La Salle brothers and Christian Brothers, I'm not sure, but I can assure you of one thing, none of them were in any way Christian. I use this word advisedly but they were bad people. I’m sorry if I offend anybody. I’m just telling it like it was. Corporal punishment, of course, was the problem – it was allowed in all schools, probably encouraged in schools, but it was supposedly to be used only for misbehavior or misdemeanors. You’ve got to be joking - these guys used it for everything, mainly to correct educational performance. Even the slightest mistake in a lesson was punished severely and this doesn’t even mention the many ‘imaginary’ transgressions that these guys thought up. In reality, I would say they used it to work out their frustrations. The interesting thing here though is that I remember that I was reasonably good at school; not always top of the class but not far away either. I’m not boasting, just being factual. And so, you might ask, if you didn’t misbehave and you were reasonably good at your studies, what did they beat you up for? As Shakespeare said, ‘there’s the rub.’ I really can’t remember why – I think these guys just beat up everyone. I'm not going to go into detail as to the type of punishment meted out. Suffice to say, it was brutal and it was totally unnecessary. The ironic thing is that alongside these men in black, we had excellent lay teachers, who never laid a finger on us because they knew how to teach and presumably had well-adjusted lives.

Now I will be the first to say that I wasn’t alone and that most other boys suffered also. The only exception to this rule was that you wouldn’t be touched if your parents were wealthy. This says a lot about attitudes at the time but let’s park that one. I will also say that I was never abused in the ways that have surfaced in recent years from many past pupils of various reputable schools and colleges. Nonetheless it is something that my generation carries with us. While it is wonderful to see the benefits that free education has bestowed on the country, it unfortunately instilled in us a fear of learning. Although I went on to get qualifications at third level as did many of my classmates, all of us will admit that we were never comfortable in a classroom despite how benign and friendly it might have been. I remember when I completed my Masters degree, thirty four years ago, I resolved never to attend another class. I haven’t.

As far as I am aware, schools nowadays are friendly, welcoming places, designed to educate and inform. I saw how much my own children loved school and the benefits they gained from it. As a former fellow student said to me one time, by comparison with the way our children have been educated, we weren’t educated at all. It might be difficult to believe as we have done ok in life but I know exactly what he meant.

So, to return to the main theme, I’m delighted that the vision of people like Donogh O’Malley has finally come to fruition. I would have loved to have attended one of the schools he envisaged. Unfortunately it took more than a generation to get there but given the economic success it has generated, there is no doubt it was worth it. Other countries would do well to follow the Irish template. Education, particularly at third-level, is prohibitively expensive in many countries. This to me is madness as surely education is the key to understanding and the way to build a mature society, untinged by the ignorance of racism or any of the other prejudices so common in many societies. There is no doubt that these ills exist in Ireland also but I would argue much less so than some other countries.

Education is the key. I don’t want to single out individual countries but the former socialist countries made all education free, even if some of the curriculum was questionable. Graduates from these countries can be found in many of the world’s most successful economies today. By contrast, third level education in the USA is exorbitantly expensive and their numbers of third level degrees per capita is shockingly low for such a wealthy nation. Sadly, the current political regime wants to make it even more restrictive. I’ve even heard that the Orange man wants to abolish the Department of Education. Heaven help us all if it comes to that. Regardless of its flaws, stick with the Irish model.

As a postscript, it goes without saying that I wish our Government would use some of its new found wealth to create a more balanced society but I fear political expediency will prevent it.