Privacy and Private Schooling

national | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis Tuesday May 25, 2004 00:57 by Barra Ó Gríobhtha

My opinions regarding Michael D. Higgins recent outburst, and the subject of private education

The privacy issue is being used as a smoke screen to deflect the debate from the most important issue; that being a party’s obligation to represent the views of those who elect it. Private schooling is in conflict with core socialist beliefs, and this makes Pat Rabbitte’s position untenable.

Lets not get side tracked. There are two important issues at play here, one major and one minor. I’ll tackle the minor one first – the privacy of Pat Rabbitte’s children.

My views on privacy are probably more fascist than most. For example, I believe that the media should not be permitted to congregate outside a person’s residence as they so often do – it’s a form of stalking in my opinion. And I also accept that Michael D. Higgins has indeed invaded the privacy of Pat Rabbitte’s children. But how much damage do I think has been done to the Rabbitte family, and in particular to the Rabbitte children, as a result of this controversy? Very little. Pat Rabbitte's credibility is another matter.

But their privacy was invaded? Indeed it was, but invasion of privacy is part and parcel of democracy and in particular, socialism. For example, a person’s salary is not private. Why? Because most of us believe in taxation as a means of pursing equality. If a friend is suicidal, we intervene despite their wishes. During a court case, a persons privacy is often laid on the line in the name of truth. In other words, we live in a society, and as a result, privacy is not guaranteed. If a person wants privacy, I recommend an uninhabited remote island.

I am sympathetic for Pat Rabbitte’s children, considering that they were perhaps hurt or embarrassed by Higgins’ remarks, but my feelings of sympathy are trivial when contrasted with the anger I feel regarding the hypocrisy of Irish politics right now. Michael D. obviously fells the same way and was therefore right to speak out as he did.

Pat Rabbitte is the leader of the largest, left wing, and socialist party in Ireland. Socialists believe in equality for all. What they certainly do not believe in is that some children are entitled to a higher standard of education than others.

Teachers in private schools are civil servants just like in any other school, and receive the same salary as those employed in public schools as far as I know. This gives the impression that all is fair, when in fact this couldn’t be further from the truth. My sister recently thought in a private school in South Dublin. This school has its own gym, a library that my sister believed was superior to the library in her own 3rd level college, and an immaculate staff canteen. My sister has thought in a number of community schools also, so is entitled to contrast the two.

So for the sake of argument, lets say there are two teaching vacancies tomorrow for secondary math teachers. One in a private college, and one in an under-resourced community school in an under-resourced unemployment black-spot like the Donegal Gaeltacht (where I went to school). And lets say there are two teachers available to fill these posts, one very experienced teacher and one greenhorn fresh out of college. Which school is most likely to get the experienced teacher? The private school of course, due to the incentives it offers to its staff. I believe there’s a private school in Tipperary with it’s own golf course.

But some people prioritise their children’s education, over luxuries that other families prioritise (family holidays for example), and as a result have more money to spend on education? That’s a fair point, but it does not escape the principle that all children deserve the same standard of education, and this principle is at the core of Socialism.

Pat Rabbitte is elected on Socialist principles, but does not adhere to them. Of course people are entitled to know this, and of course people are entitled to be angry in this regard. The only reason Pat Rabbitte can afford to send his children to private school is because of the salary he receives as a politician. He is a politician because people expect him to represent their principles in the Dáil – Socialist principles. He has made a mockery of the election system, and a mockery of his party and those who vote for it. Pat Rabbitte has jeopardised the privacy of this own children, and should blame no one else. If he had sent his children to the same schools good enough for those who voted for him, then we would not be having this debate right now.

I believe with respect to this argument, that the privacy issue is being used as a smoke screen to avoid the possibility of Irish society debating the real issues. The privacy issue affects only a few (the Rabbitte family), while the party principles issue affects us all. Despite this, all of the debate that I have heard focuses on how Higgins is a “loose cannon” as I think Patricia McKenna called him. How dare she. This is typical of Irish politicians - party over principles. What we need are loose cannons. It doesn’t surprise me to hear McKenna making such remarks considering the Green Party’s failure to expel Ciaran Cuffe. She happily shares a party with a man who holds stock in numerous oil companies, a man she entrusted as the spokesperson for environmental affairs for her party. Yet, she ridicules Michael D. Higgins because he protests the dilution of his party’s principles – as Blair has done with New Labour. The sheer hypocrisy of it all. Most people think Fine Gael stand for nothing. But at least they stand for nothing, rather than saying that they stand for something when in fact they don’t really stand for it at all. At least Fine Gael aren’t making idiots of us.

I was on my way to bed last weekend, when the cover of my mother’s “Alive!” Catholic newspaper caught my eye – “Outrage over massive funding for EU schools”. I didn’t read about this in the national papers, nor hear it on RTÉ. The gist of the story is Noel Dempsey’s allocation of 16.45 million Euro’s a year to a private college in Brussels which educates the children of Irish beurocrats in Belgium. A school of a similar size in Ireland “receives considerably less than 1 million Euros”. According to “Action!”, this school had 216 nursery places, 830 primary places and 1266 secondary places last year. It has one teacher per 11 pupils. I must also point out that Herman Kelly of The Irish Catholic newspaper first broke this story.

The above makes me very angry. Ireland was created with the intention that we would all be equal. I believe Michael D. Higgins wrote a poem about his father who died like many other Irish liberators, bitter and poor. Ireland’s liberators could have so easily turned the Irish class system on its head (enslaving Unionists) if they wanted too, but didn’t because it went against their socialist principles. I believe it would have been wrong of them to persecute Unionists when this state was created, but I also find it shocking that Rathmines, the only constituency in the 26 counties to vote Unionist in the 1918 elections, should be the wealthiest area in Ireland today, the same area where my sister thought. What I'm trying to say is that the argument that people are wealthy because they work hard, and people are poor because they are lazy, is lost on me. I have ancestors who died creating this country, and any amount of entrepreneurial spirit is a pathetic joke with respect to their sacrifice. So if the fact that your daddy owns a large successful company entitles you to an above average education, then surely I was entitled to the mother of all educations.

Other examples of fundamental Irish-party hypocrisies.
- Fianna Fail, the republican party of green, white and gold. The very same party that has overseen the handing over of Irish sovereignty and neutrality to European Unionism.
- Sinn Féin. Spout on about how they stand for a United Ireland, while simultaneously spouting on about how Catholics will outnumber Protestants in 2016. A true United Ireland party would strive to persuade Protestants in N. Ireland that a United Ireland is in their best interest and not worry about religious percentages.
- PDs. I was recently sent a flier at my student address, describing how hip the PDs are, and how they are in fact a "liberal party". Yeah, liberal in a kind of fascist way perhaps.