Top of the class — Foley is now ‘in the mix’ as future FF leader
Arriving virtually out of nowhere, Norma Foley has impressed colleagues with her calm determination, writes Shane Coleman
WHAT a difference a year can make. This time 12 months ago, when the votes from the general election were barely counted, nobody outside the political bubble had heard of Norma Foley.
Back then, she was a newly elected TD who had finally made it to the Dáil after numerous attempts and 26 years serving her time on Kerry county council. Today, she’s among the best known politicians in the country.
She has her vociferous detractors — who doesn’t in frontline politics nowadays? — and there have been errors along the way. But Foley is winning lots of praise from inside government and, despite being a novice in national politics, is already “definitely in the mix” when talk turns to potential future Fianna Fáil leaders.
They believe she’s performing well in a really tricky department. Rightly or wrongly, there is a view among FF TDs that the Department of Education has not done her, or her predecessor Joe McHugh, any favours during the Covid crisis. But they argue that Foley has shown considerable patience and integrity in dealing with the many challenges she has faced.
After a shaky enough start, they also feel that she has done well in media outings — never getting flustered or losing her cool despite being under the cosh. Although they do say she will need to expand her range, and have more visibility, beyond education matters.
But while Foley isn’t one for blowing her own trumpet, unlike some of her Cabinet colleagues, her admirers warn against mistaking this for a lack of assertiveness. They point to her facing down of the ASTI last weekend after the union walked out of talks, only to return with tails between their legs a couple of days later. Given how the teaching unions have largely called the shots on education for years (remember the efforts to reform the Junior Cert?), that was no mean feat.
Of course, the ASTI and the more moderate TUI have not yet fully signed up to the minster’s plan for a twin-track approach to the Leaving Cert.
But aware of a certain public backlash should they veto the plan, they are unlikely to bring the house down, although there will be a fair bit of huffing and puffing.
Perhaps more surprisingly, the positive assessment of Foley in her own party is shared among Fine Gael figures, who regard her and Michael McGrath as the star FF performers in Government.
There is admiration for a “serious work ethic” and respect for the fact that she doesn’t feel the need to be constantly courting the media and the headlines.
There is acknowledgement that there have been missteps — most notably, the twice abandoned plans last month to reopen schools for students with special educational needs. That was embarrassing.
The minister did show she was no pushover by having a cut at the INTO for being “incredibly disingenuous” for stating the union didn’t instruct members not to reas turn to school. But even her admirers accept that, particularly the second time around, she showed inexperience and poor judgment in not having the deal firmly nailed down before any announcement was made.
But they argue that such mistakes are inevitable given she is only eight months in the job, and also due to the fast-moving crisis the State is facing. Colleagues across government are also impressed at how she delivered on the Leaving Cert last week.
“She went into the tunnel [with the unions on the Leaving Cert]; didn’t provide public commentary, kept at it and got there. And she will get there on the return of schools,” was one take.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the view in education circles is not quite as rosy, although on a personal level she is seen “pleasant and likeable”.
There is criticism of “appalling communication” on the reopening of schools and a view that the minister can be “quite headstrong” — the belief is that it was she, and not her officials, who insisted on the removal of previous school performance from the algorithm used to standardise last year’s Leaving Cert calculated grades.
But politically, given the gathering storm over how students from less prestigious schools would be disadvantaged, Foley was right to act. And there is grudging acceptance within the education sector that she “bounced back” from the fiasco over schools reopening with last week’s compromise proposals for the Leaving Cert, even if there are concerns about the plan.
There might also be respect for the way she eyeballed the hardliners in the ASTI last weekend. There certainly is in government circles. “She didn’t buckle. Don’t underestimate her. She’s very tough,” said one source.
And, perhaps, starting to grow in confidence. The word is she is finding her voice at Cabinet — where she contributes sparingly, but in a very “sensible and insightful” manner.
Big challenges lie ahead for Foley. The return to school won’t be straightforward. Nor will the Leaving Cert. And with Covid, there is always the unexpected.
But then this is a minister accustomed to the unexpected — she could hardly have imagined even last May that she’d be where she is now.
And if she can deliver the reopening of schools and the Leaving Cert goes ahead, then it will be quite a first year in national politics. Definitely not to be underestimated.
‘Her facing down of the ASTI proves she is far from a pushover’