Obituary: Niamh Bhreathnach dedicated her life to combatting education disadvantage

“It is easy to remember someone who actually did something in office,” was the marked refrain from a veteran TD in reference to Bhreatnach’s career.

Indeed, as someone who started in university in 1997, I was an early beneficiary of the introduction of free third-level fees and, as a result, I and my contemporaries were spared the burden endured by my older siblings and previous generations.

At her funeral on Thursday, Ms Bhreathnach’s husband Tom Ferris acknowledged she was minister for education, “but going back beyond that” she had taught in Dublin’s Cook Street in a school which served the Oliver Bond flats complex “and she cared mightily for the children there”.

President Michael D Higgins, Labour leader Ivana Bacik and Education Minister Norma Foley were among the congregation. She put Irish education on a legislative basis at a time when the Department of Education was managed by civil service circulars, mourners were told.

“Niamh believed that if you wanted to make it happen you had to legislate for it,” Mr Ferris said.

He quoted from Shakespeare’s sonnet 116 “Let me not to the marriage of true minds”, and concluded by saying: “It has been a great privilege to have loved and been loved by this extraordinary woman.” 

Ms Bhreathnach was born in 1945, and was one of five daughters born to civil servant couple, Breandán Bhreathnach and Lena Donnellan who hailed from the ‘Banner’ county of Clare.

Mr Bhreathnach helped establish Na Píobairí Uilleann (NPU) in Henrietta Street and was a founder of the Irish Traditional Music Archive in Merrion Square.

Growing up in the affluent Blackrock area in South County Dublin, the five Bhreathnach siblings attended the local Carysfort National School and Sion Hill Secondary School. She went on to qualify as a teacher from Froebel College at Sion Hill before entering political life.

In 1990, Bhreathnach was elected chairperson of the Labour Party, and remained in this role for three years. She first sought election to Dublin County Council in 1985 but was unsuccessful and had to wait until 1991 before she was elected.

Education initiatives

Elected to the Dáil as a beneficiary of the “Spring Tide” in 1992 as TD for Dun Laoghaire, she became Minister for Education in 1993 as part of the Fianna Fáil-Labour Party coalition government and remained in this role for four years.

On becoming minister, her party leader Dick Spring asked her “to do something about disadvantage”. Drawing on her experience as a remedial teacher in inner city Dublin, she brought forward such programmes as “Breaking the Cycle” and “Early Start”.

Their objective was to make profound changes in the educational experience of poorer families, where drop-out rates were higher.

Her more radical initiatives at the Department of Education between 1993 and 1997 included the abolition of third-level tuition fees; changes to both junior and senior cycles; the Breaking the Cycle Disadvantaged Schemes; and the passing of the 1997 Universities Act.

As such, her tenure is rightly compared to Donagh O’Malley who heralded in free secondary school education.

As minister, she also introduced the RSE (Relationships and Sexuality Education) programme, which triggered significant controversy at the time.

She also brought forward the Social Personal and Health Education programme; the new examination subject of Civic Social and Political Education; and the Leaving Certificate Applied programme.

There also was her work in overhauling the structures of school governance including the standardisation of the school year and the upgrading of the regional technical colleges to Institutes of Technology.

She addressed structural issues in regard to school governance, certification of further education; standardisation of the school year; the extension of the support teacher service and the school psychological service; and the designation of the Regional Technical Colleges as Institutes of Education.

While Ms Bhreathnach will forever be remembered for the Irish University Act of 1997 and the abolition of third-level undergraduate tuition fees, the speed with which subsequent government rowed back on that (with fees now at €3,000) diluted its impact somewhat.

Despite her reforming tenure, she lost her Dáil seat in the 1997 General Election. She was nominated by the outgoing Taoiseach John Bruton to be a Senator in the last days of the 20th Seanad.

She sought a nomination from the Labour Party for the elections to the 21st Seanad, and there was some surprise when she was not one of the five candidates nominated by the party. She did not seek a nomination from the nominating bodies.

She tried unsuccessfully to stand for the Dáil in 2002 but served as a councillor on Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council between 2004 and 2014.

She was also a member of the board of governors of Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology and the Association for Higher Education Access and Disability.

Paying tribute to his former colleague, President Higgins said the former Minister's "child-centred approach" will leave an "extraordinary legacy of educational reform".

He added: "Niamh Bhreathnach’s deep commitment to serving the public was given evidence by her returning to Dún Laghaire Rathdown Council and her continued work as an activist in the decades following her term as minister.

"She remained deeply interested in the education sector and broader public affairs up to recent weeks. She will be deeply missed."

She is survived by her husband Tom Ferris, the couple’s two children Cliodhna and Macdara, son-in-law Bryan, grandchildren Tom and Alice, sisters Síghle, Fionnuala and Éadaoin and her many relatives and friends. She was predeceased by her sister Eibhlín.