A chara, – In his letter (“Tackling disadvantage”, February 28th), John McHugh referred to the various reports of the Educational Disadvantage Committee which were published 20 years ago. I chaired that committee, whose members worked tirelessly on a voluntary and unpaid basis to come up with recommendations to address educational disadvantage. These recommendations were largely ignored by successive governments. The committee was disbanded and was never replaced.
Two years ago, the government commissioned the OECD to carry out a review of “Resourcing Schools to Address Educational Disadvantage”. This review was published in 2024 – and, not surprisingly, its recommendations are almost identical to those of the Educational Disadvantage Committee.
The biblical lesson of Luke 4.24 has been well-heeded by Government. “No prophet is accepted in is own country”. – Yours, etc,
ÁINE HYLAND,
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Emeritus Professor of Education,
University College Cork.
