{"id":617185,"date":"2026-09-07T12:20:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T12:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/617185\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T12:20:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T12:20:13","slug":"i-was-the-first-to-benefit-how-donogh-omalleys-introduction-of-free-secondary-education-changed-ireland-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/617185\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I was the first to benefit\u2019: How Donogh O\u2019Malley\u2019s introduction of free secondary education changed Ireland \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are few policy decisions that have shaped Ireland more than the introduction of free secondary school<\/a> education.<\/p>\n

This historic announcement, made 60 years ago this week by then Fianna F\u00e1il minister for education Donogh O\u2019Malley<\/a> in a D\u00fan Laoghaire hotel, transformed the lives of a generation of Irish people and helped drag the country into the modern age.<\/p>\n

It was a change that O\u2019Malley himself did not get to witness. Just 18 months after setting the wheels of free education in motion, the Limerick politician passed away suddenly outside The Little Church in Sixmilebridge, Co Clare<\/a>, while canvassing in a local byelection.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Opinion: Free education was a gamble that is still paying offOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Hundreds of people gathered at The Little Church on Sunday afternoon to pay tribute to O\u2019Malley and unveil a commemorative plaque created by the Sixmilebridge Historical Society.<\/p>\n

Among them was Limerick city man Gerry Slattery, who says he would not have been able to stay in school had it not been for O\u2019Malley.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in sixth class in primary school and the consideration always in the back of our minds was the fees for the different schools in Limerick City,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI can remember the discussions at home with my parents. One school was charging \u00a333, another school was charging something else. Even at that age, I was conscious of the burden on my parents.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of a sudden this scheme came through and I was the first to benefit. I was part of that first wave. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were always aware of the financial burden on the family. This was the late 1960s, the economy just wasn\u2019t strong.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"GerryGerry Slattery from Limerick City with former minister for education Jan O Sullivan, at the ceremony in Sixmilebridge, Co Clare. Photograph: Andrew Hamilton for The Irish Times \"ActorActor Daragh O\u2019Malley looks at a picture of his father, former minister for education Donogh O\u2019Malley <\/p>\n

Another to benefit from the foresight of O\u2019Malley was one of his successors in the Department of Education<\/a>, former minister Jan O\u2019Sullivan<\/a>. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Sullivan had just finished her Leaving Certificate in the summer of 1968 when the first higher education grants were announced.<\/p>\n

This innovation, started by O\u2019Malley but completed by his successor Brian Lenihan snr, paved the way for thousands of Irish people to attend university. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was working a summer job after my Leaving Cert and I remember distinctly my father ringing me up and telling me that I could go to college,\u201d said O\u2019Sullivan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was because of the grants. If that hadn\u2019t come in, with my brother already in college, I wouldn\u2019t have been able to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a sixth-year student when he [O\u2019Malley] died. I remember we all lined the route up to the graveyard in our school uniforms. All the sixth-year students from all the schools in Limerick did it.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Most primary and secondary students refused to go to school at least once last yearOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Another significant innovation introduced by O\u2019Malley was the introduction of free secondary school transport, or the yellow buses as they were known.<\/p>\n

According to Teresa O\u2019Doherty, president of Marino Institute of Education, O\u2019Malley\u2019s foresight transformed education from a luxury enjoyed by the rich to a right that belonged to everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf all of this hadn\u2019t happened, I can absolutely see a different path that my life might have taken,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy parents really valued education, but the concept that we could go to secondary school, that we could go to college, that wasn\u2019t there. <\/p>\n

\u201cFree education made it an entitlement for everybody. The concept of the yellow buses was so important also. Something that could take people and bring them to their school. That was really massive, especially in rural areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis move made education into a right. There would have been an ambition before, but that ambition was made so much easier because we actually were entitled to it now. It became a trajectory that was for everybody, it didn\u2019t matter who you were. It was somewhere that everyone could go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AtAt the dinner of the Irish Federation of University Teachers in May 1967 at Trinity College, Dublin: St Patrick’s College Maynooth president Gerard Mitchell, UCD president JJ Hogan, Irish Federation of University Teachers chair JJ Morrissey, minister for education Donogh O’Malley, and Trinity College Dublin provost AJ McConnell. Photograph: Dermot O’Shea\/The Irish Times <\/p>\n

Speaking at the event, Daragh O\u2019Malley, the actor and son of Donogh O\u2019Malley, said the changes brought about by his father were still recent and needed to be protected. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not ancient history. This is only 60 years ago and the tracks of desperation are still quite fresh. The situation [with education] in Ireland in 1966 is certainly an ongoing stain on the Irish conscience,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father believed that this was wrong and that a child\u2019s future should not be determined solely by their parents\u2019 ability to find the money for school fees. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut the free secondary education scheme did not merely remove the fees, it removed a barrier. It opened the doors of secondary schools to children who might not otherwise have passed through. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt sent a message to the children of Ireland, that where you came from does not dictate where you can go. It changed the expectations of people and ultimately it changed Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Malley warned that the progress brought about by his father\u2019s innovations should not be taken for granted, and said the politicians of today needed to show a similar bravery and spirit of innovation. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Lessons from history \u2013 An Irishman\u2019s Diary on Donogh O\u2019MalleyOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2026, all is not rosy for education in Ireland, with dark clouds gathering and education less accessible than it should be for children from disadvantaged areas due to static State grants and other financial burdens and barriers faced by families,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father never got to see the full consequences of what he had done. He never met even one of the tens of thousands of young Irish people who would go forward in their education. He never saw the Ireland that those children would help to build.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he would have understood something very important: the work is never finished. Every generation has to decide if they will open doors or they will close them. Whether they will offer hope or surrender to despair.\u201d<\/p>\n

Current Minister for Education, Hildegarde Naughton<\/a> paid tribute to Donogh O\u2019Malley and the amount he was able to achieve in his 20 months in the Department of Education. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe speed at which he was moving was extraordinary. He later explained that proposing bold new policies was essential for government,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no doubt that without the changes that Donogh O\u2019Malley introduced, we would not have had the economic change that we have enjoyed in the intervening years. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe would not have one of Europe\u2019s highest school completion rates and one of the highest numbers of university graduates anywhere in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are few policy decisions that have shaped Ireland more than the introduction of free secondary school education.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[15469,6466,2989,61,60,43,28205],"class_list":["post-617185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-clare","tag-department-of-education","tag-hildegarde-naughton","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-second-level"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}