Extract from an interview of Sean O'Connor: 8 September 1986

Abstract

The educational community appreciates the editors of Irish Educational Studies for making the Interview with Sean O'Connor, in Dublin, Ireland available to a wider audience in 2014. The interview was originally in Sean O'Connor's home in Dublin on 8 September 1986. By that time, O'Connor had retired as Secretary of the Department of Education (1973-1975) and as Chairman of the Higher Education Authority (HEA, 1975-1979). It was the original intention to have the Interview constitute the first Chapter of Irish Educational Policy (Mulcahy and O'Sullivan 1989) but O'Connor's passing made that difficult to achieve. While readers will judge the significance of the interview for themselves, the editors can say that their aim was to recount various aspects of O'Connor's untiring work during one of the most eventful times in the development and implementation of educational policy in Ireland. The extract from the interview presented here covers the years immediately preceding and immediately following the publication of the OECD report, Investment in It begins with a reference to the reform plan announced by Patrick Hillery [Minister for Education] in 1963, followed by a discussion of the contribution of Donogh O'Malley as Minister for Education. It concludes with a discussion of the well-known article O'Connor wrote for Irish Educational Studies in 1968. The reader will see that there are some breaks in continuity in the flow of the interview. There are some minor rephrasings in places and also some deletions that enabled the shortening of the transcript without doing violence to it. It remains true in tone, spirit, and in essential content to the original taping. What is presented here represents about half of the full original interview throughout which the leadership provided by O'Connor's commitment to educational equality and his forward-looking ideas are evident. The editors wish to express their appreciation to O'Connor's son, Torlach, for his assistance. It is his wish that we convey that the interview took place just a few months before Sean's death when he was already quite ill and, as a result, his recollection and interpretation of some events may be somewhat clouded. Language: en