The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Yes Minister: top job for Norma Foley
EDUCATION MINISTER NORMA FOLEY READY FOR THE CHALLENGE AS SHE TAKES OVER A DEPARTMENT MIRED IN COVID-19 CHAOS
KERRY has a powerful voice at the highest level of Government following the appointment of Tralee TD Norma Foley as Minister for Education.
She is the eighth ‘first time’ TD ever appointed to cabinet and the first Kerry woman to hold a ministry.
The former teacher’s first task is to open 4,000 schools shut by COVID-19 and oversee the results of the cancelled Leaving Cert.
She said her main goal as Minister is to make decisions with the best possible results for the children she serves.
While her focus must be on her Ministery the Fianna Fáil TD said she won’t forget those she was elected to represent.
“I was elected by the people of Kerry. I will always work to make sure the interests of Kerry are heard at cabinet,” she said.
WHAT a difference six months makes. Just last December Norma Foley was balancing her work as a County Councillor for Tralee and a teacher at Presentation Secondary School.
This week the first-time TD finds herself elevated to the most senior ranks of the Cabinet, with responsibility for running Ireland’s education system at the height of an unprecedented health crisis.
From teaching a few hundred Tralee students , Minister Foley is now in charge of a Department that oversees 923,000 students and pupils and 63,000 teachers in 3,929 national and secondary schools across the country.
The pressure of an already taxing job is added to, almost immeasurably, by the impact and the ongoing fallout of the COVID-19 crisis.
While every Government Department faces major challenges, Minister Foley will be one of the busiest cabinet members in the weeks and months ahead.
Not only must she manage the day-to-day running of a department with an €11.1 billion budget – one with an often-fractious relationship with the trade unions – there is the immediate issue of getting those 3,929 schools after the Coronavirus lock-down.
Minister Foley – whose elevation to Cabinet as a first-time TD surprised many – has no doubts about the scale of the challenge ahead, but she said is ready to meet it head on.
“It is an absolutely huge challenge, especially getting schools open,” she said.
“I’m very keen that [schools reopening] would happen. But I’m very keen that would happen as a consequence of engagement with all stakeholders and also acting on the very best public-health advice available to us”, she said.
Ms Foley said that her goal as Minister will be to make decisions that have the best possible outcome for the children and young adults that she serves.
“We’re working to recognise and engage with all stakeholders: pupils and students, teachers, parents, secretaries, support staff and everyone in the wider spectrum,” said Minister Foley.
“The key is ensuring the education, welfare, security and safety of all, and we are working collectively towards that.”
As a teacher herself, Minister Foley said she “values the expertise and talent” of teachers, SNAs, principals and deputy principals, but also wants to ensure parents’ voices are heard.
“I see them [teachers and school staff] as very valuable but equally so I see the parents as valuable and important stakeholders. They too must be engaged with,” she said.
“I bring my own experience coming from a teaching background, and I will make the most of that.”
As to criticism of the lack of Ministers from west of the country, Minister Foley said it is “impossible to place a minister from every county or every region” adding that the announcement of junior Ministries on Wednesday would enhance the geographical spread.
When it comes to her own Ministry, the veteran Tralee politician said she was as surprised as anyone to get the call.
While she was honoured to nominate her party leader Micheál Martin for Taoiseach – the second time she had done so – she did not expect any further twists to her day.
“I was utterly surprised, I had no inclination it was coming,” said Minister Foley.
“At half one I was on Henry Street after doing a little shopping. I was heading back to the Convention Centre with something for dinner when I got the call that the Taoiseach wanted to see me,” she said.
With scores of Department and Cabinet meetings and briefings to attend, Minister Foley said the last few days have been “hectic” and “intense” as she gets to grips with her brief; meets her department Secretaries and staff and gets better acquainted with her new cabinet colleagues from among her own party, Fine Gael and the Green Party.
While her focus will and must be on her Ministerial duties, the Tralee TD said she will not forget the people and the communities she was elected to represent.
“Well I’m a Minister from Kerry, and I was elected by the people of Kerry. I will always work to make sure the interests of Kerry and Tralee are heard at cabinet,” she said.
The former Mayor of Kerry said she had been inundated with messages from well wishers since Saturday’s announcement.
“The support has been wonderful and I’ve been inundated with congratulations and best wishes. I think I must have about 999 messages on my phone that I still haven’t got around to replying to,” she said.
Minister Foley’s political mentor was her beloved late father, Denis, and she feels the former Kerry TD will have been looking down proudly when her political career reached a new peak on Saturday afternoon.
“I think he’d be very proud and he’d have been very emotional. He’s on my shoulder, looking on and holding his breath for me.”