So far, my children are following the same educational path that I trod - with one exception. I spent part of my school days at boarding school, while they are day pupils. The boys go to Belvedere College, where I spent three happy years, and I'm hoping the girls will go to the Dominicans in Griffith Avenue when they're old enough. I started off my school career with the Dominicans in Cabra, where my aunt was a nun. When I was 12, I left Belvedere and went to Clongowes Wood College as a boarder.
I've nothing against boarding school. Sometimes parents have no option but to send their children away to school. But I do think it's an artificial way of life and cuts you off from your family.
My brother, John, for example, was away at school from the time I was six until I was 12. When I was at boarding school, he was at home. For 18 years I saw him only during the holidays.
Being at boarding school does of course teach you a certain independence, but it also leaves you very sheltered. Being thrown into university after attending a single sex boarding school was a culture shock.
At day school you enjoy the best of all worlds. You see only the best side of your friends, for example. At boarding school you're with them 24 hours a day. What I particularly enjoyed at Belvedere was the fact that we were always out and about. Father O'Sullivan was a great man for organising trips. I remember going to visit Pat Taaffe, the jockey, at the height of his career and I still have photos of my visit to Independent Newspapers.
Because the school was city based there were always lots of things going on. Getting in and out from my home in Dunboyne, Co Meath, though, was difficult. I had to get two buses. It meant that I sometimes missed out on sports. At school I was quite academic. The Jesuits, who run both Belvedere and Clongowes, gave us a fairly broad education. Thanks to them, I acquired a great love of English and writing. At Clongowes we had a great teacher of English, Father Luby, who is still on the go and is very much into theatre - I sometimes meet him there.
Although I was academic I liked sports. I wasn't particularly good at rugby, so I played soccer instead. I took up rugby again after I left school, but I've always thought soccer was the better game. Nowadays I follow the Wimbledon team - but more for my interest in Joe Kinnear and how he'll proceed, than anything else. At UCD I studied economics and politics. I found philosophy in first year a real eye opener. It was so dramatically different to anything I had studied before. I did my post graduate studies at Oxford and, after a spell in private industry, moved to the ESRI. I contested local elections in 1979, found it interesting and stood for the Dail when I got the chance. I've always found the life of a politician both interesting and challenging.
Richard Bruton, former Minister for Enterprise and Employment, is Fine Gael spokesman on education and science. He was in conversation with Yvonne Healy.
