Results day

Results day and all those who sat their Leaving Cert examination have by now received their grades.

The newspapers will be reeling off 'advice' and telling their own stories. No doubt if someone pulled out last year's newspapers they would be able to read exactly similar tales.

The results don't vary anyway significantly from year to year. The newspaper hype needs to be 'hyped' for what it is.

The discussion as to whether university fees should be reintroduced is the hot topic in educational circles at present.

The universities are strapped for cash so they have to start getting money somewhere. Maybe the best place to start would be to tighten up on waste - something that is allowed to grow in every organisation, especially state run bodies and bodies that receive their money from the public purse.

But why not introduce a system where students are asked to pay back their fees on a no interest basis. Families with an income in excess of €200,000 surely can afford to pay fees.

And then there is all the confusion and inequality that exists at second level, whereby the State subsidises fee paying schools. Many schools have to fund raise to survive.

Best of luck to all who received their results today. An especial word of good luck to my own German class in West Kerry. Well done. And as the only Irish Dominican on the pay roll of the Department of Education, it's great to be back teaching.