The Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, has shown considerable reforming zeal during his first eight months in office. This week, he rolled out his latest initiative; the establishment of a new State Exams Commission to oversee examinations at second level.
There are obvious political risks in handing over such a sensitive and politically charged area to an outside agency. In both England and Scotland, the operation of the exams by outside agencies has been problematic, to put it at its mildest.
Mr Dempsey appears unfazed by the potential political risk. Not for the first time, he said this week that it was the responsibility of politicians to lead and to take the tough decisions. Certainly, the credentials of those he has chosen to run the new agency are impressive. There appears no reason why the commission should be any less successful in running the State exams than the Department.
But the creation of the new commission serves a much wider purpose. It will free the Department from the day-to-day task of running the exams, giving it the breathing space it needs to focus on policy questions. A plethora of reports - including the landmark Cromien Report - have pointed to the need for the Department to create a stronger policy platform.
The new agency is an important step in allowing the Department to grow and develop. It also has one other benefit; it will free up the Inspectorate to concentrate on much more detailed scrutiny of standards in schools. That is no bad thing. The recent report by the Inspectorate on just 50 of the 3,000-plus primary schools in the State revealed serious problems including some worrying trends in the teaching of Irish and maths.
Mr Dempsey is also pressing ahead with his main priority; the drive to create greater equality in education. As part of this project, officials in the Department are now preparing a report on the future of third-level fees, which were abolished by the rainbow government in 1995.
It appears likely that a serious effort will be made to make the grant system much more equitable. An attempt is under way to root out some of the current anomalies.
The Minister favours a system where grants are based on actual income including land and assets. It will not be easy to devise such a system but Mr Dempsey must press ahead. If fees are to return, this must be accompanied by a reformed grant system which genuinely targets those in most need.