The birth of the free-education scheme

This chapter provides a backdrop to the birth of free second level education in Ireland in September 1967. It is written from the perspective of this author, who was a civil servant in the Department of Education from 1959 to 1964 and worked as a research assistant with the Investment in Education team from September 1962 to September 1964. The article does not pretend to be a comprehensive analysis or critique of events of the period nor does it claim to be dispassionate or neutral. It is an insider’s view of some educational developments during the period from 1962 to September 1967, and as well as drawing on published and unpublished material, some of which has not previously been in the public domain, it is based on the author’s own recollections of events. The chapter analyses and discusses the influence of the Investment in Education report (Department of Education, 1965) and the role played by the Development Branch of the Department of Education in initiating and implementing the free education scheme. The setting up of a development unit was recommended by the Investment in Education report, and its formation was formally announced by Minister George Colley in his Estimates speech in July 1965 (Dáil Debates, 16th June 1965).