Brian Hayes, the new Fine Gael spokesman on Education, is already making a strong impression across the sector. Seán Flynn, Education Editor reports

In the past month, there is hardly a senior figure in the education system in this State who has not received a phone call or e-mail from Brian Hayes.

The 38-year-old has dived into the education brief with characteristic gusto. Long spoken of as a future Fine Gael leader, Hayes topped the poll in Dublin South West in the 1997 election, only to lose out in 2002.

After regaining his seat in June, Hayes has dusted himself down and is determined to make his mark in education. His mission? According to the Fine Gael leader, Enda Kenny, it is straightforward - land some decent blows on Mary Hanafin, who has been enjoying something of a charmed life as Minister for Education.

A former party education officer, Hayes - from Clontarf, Dublin - is well qualified to do the job. He taught briefly, during his HDip year in the local Holy Faith school.

And the family is steeped in education. For 25 years, his mother was PA to the general secretary of the INTO. As a student, Hayes worked behind the bar in the Teachers' Club in Parnell Square. Is there a better way to ready yourself for the education brief?

Since his appointment, Hayes has made a strong impression across the education sector. It helps that he is so unpretentious and self-deprecating.

Asked about winning the party nomination in 1997, he recalls how the party was desperate for anyone to stand, but all those approached declined. I think I was the 25th choice, he recalls.

These days, Hayes lives in the constituency at Kingswood Heights in Tallaght and his children (he has three, aged six and under) attend local schools.

Hayes would like all schools in the State to be like his local national school, St Killian's in Tallaght, which is inclusive and welcoming in its approach.

He thinks the current debate about the future shape of school patronage is the most pressing issue in Irish education, but worries about the "secretive" consultation process underway between the Minister, the churches and the education partners.

"There must be a suspicion that some kind of secret deal will be done between the Government and the Catholic bishops. We are being kept in the dark but I will oppose any deal made without recourse to the Dáil.

"This is a hugely important issue and I would like to see a more public debate on the position of denominational education in Ireland, instead of this secretive consultation process. That is why I back the INTO's call for a national forum on the whole issue of patronage."

At this stage Hayes is still mulling over what he sees as the best options for the future management of our primary schools.

"But I will say this: I don't want to see a new community just for poorer or newcomer children. This kind of segregation would be disastrous for the primary sector, where kids of all backgrounds have always mixed so well.

"I was in primary school with some kids whose parents were doctors and some where both parents were unemployed. We must retain this inclusive approach. And we don't want to see the kind of division we have seen in second-level education, especially in south Dublin.

"What we don't want is to see segregation dressed up as parental choice when it is active prejudice against various groups."

Hayes prefers a patronage model where the current providers - the churches, Educate Together and the Gaelscoileanna - adjust their procedures to meet the needs of the New Ireland.

"The big question for the Catholic Church is how much religious instruction will be given and how those of other faiths can be accommodated."

On other issues, Hayes believes the "Hanafin propaganda machine" is concealing the sad reality of an Irish education system still underperforming by international standards.

"Yes, there is a good deal of contentment about the education system from those who have done well. But when you probe deeper you see a system where half a million people are functionally illiterate and where only 2 per cent are engaged in adult education, compared to 14 per cent in Britain. It is a system where there is a long waiting list for psychological assessments and where the numbers of children dropping out at age 15 is increasing dramatically."

Hayes says he plans to put the Minister through her paces. His immediate priority is to challenge what he calls "Mary Hanafin's happy-clappy stuff with teachers and with schools".

This, he says, "only masks a lack of ambition for our education system. We need to be more ambitious. We need to meet the benchmark set by other EU states.

"Most of all, we need to raise the funding level. Hanafin talks about the €9 billion we will invest in education next year. She does not tell us that education spending relative to GDP is actually down (from 6.5 per cent to 5.5 per cent) since Fine Gael left office."

We need, he says, to see beyond the Hanafin propaganda machine and address the realities of our education system.