EDUCATION:SENATOR PEARSE Doherty "wholeheartedly commended Caitríona Ruane in developing an education system that is grounded in inclusion and equality".
He said the Stormont Minister for Education had invested in school buildings in the North while there was a proliferation of prefabs in the South.
Supporting a lengthy ardchomhairle motion backing Ms Ruane. he denounced measures which disadvantaged Travellers, and contrasted this with inclusive measures in the North. He also denounced cuts in classroom assistant provision and other pupil support schemes.
Education in the South had hit “rock bottom”, he said.
“The Government has been reckless with those most in need. They have failed students as well as teachers. They have their priorities all wrong.”
He also criticised plans to introduce fees for third-level education in the Republic. The Government was telling students to pay the €1,000 fee on top of tuition fees. Fine Gael wanted a graduation tax on the Australian model.
He said Sinn Féin would not tolerate such attacks. Education was not a commodity nor a luxury. Rather it was “key”, and “proper investment in education will pay dividends”.
Addressing delegates, Ms Ruane cited Pádraig Pearse and vowed that Sinn Féin would cherish all the children of the nation equally.
She said she had inherited an education system which was built around 40 per cent of children. “The rest were failed and were probably already disadvantaged.”
She said Sinn Féin was not prepared to tolerate such inequality. “The 11-plus has gone and is not coming back. No child in the North will have to face the trauma of the 11-plus.
She said it would never have been scrapped by a British minister.
John O’Dowd, Upper Bann Assembly member, said Sinn Féin was all about delivering change whereas Fianna Fáil was about cuts.
“A socially disadvantaged Catholic in a Catholic maintained school is twice as likely to go to university as a Protestant equivalent,” he said. “[The system] is failing the Protestant working class.”
He said unionist politicians were foremost in defending that discredited system.“We are not prepared to stand by. Everything Sinn Féin does is based on change.”
Noleen McPolin, from south Down, said academic selection had dominated politics in the North. Ms Ruane had worked to bring about the most thorough reform in education in 60 years.
Children at 11 were labelled failures thanks to a system of academic apartheid. “The experience of failure at age 11 stays with us throughout our lives.”