An insider's guide to education:The Hanafin era in education is drawing to a close. Only one thing seems certain: by midsummer there will be a new occupant in the Minister for Education's office in Marlborough Street.

Mary Hanafin is well placed to secure one of the glittering prizes around the Cabinet table. The post-traumatic shock evident in the education system after the Dempsey era and the bruising ASTI dispute is gone - and Hanafin deserves much credit.

Critically, she was also first out to bat for the Taoiseach on Prime Timeduring the Bertiegate affair. So, Hanafin should be all set for Enterprise and Employment or something of equal rank - if the polls are right and Fianna Fáil romp home. But if they are wrong, things could get very interesting . . .

Hanafin has been the most successful education minister for some time. More than any minister in recent times, she will emerge from Marlborough Street as a real contender for very senior Cabinet office. Much of the credit must go to what Hanafin calls her BRAG team: her secretary general Brigid McManus, her personal secretary Ronnie Ryan, her policy adviser Averil Power and her press officer Geraldine Butler. It is a formidable team, combining an extraordinary work ethic with sound judgment on the major issues.

Power is a former pupil of Hanafin's from her days teaching Irish and history in Sion Hill. Butler is a former press officer in the Department of an Taoiseach. Like their mentor, both seem destined for higher office.

•Fr Michael Kelly, the Jesuit priest who has made such a contribution to the debate on Aids, was honoured with a Government fellowship in his name earlier this month. Kelly, who has worked among the poor in Zambia since 1955, has also received an honorary degree from the Universities of West India and an award from the Commonwealth of Learning for his contribution to the battle against Aids.

Here's a question:  how come no Irish third-level college has seen fit to honour someone who is so revered internationally?

•Don Barry, the new president at the University of Limerick, will take up his post on May 1st. Barry, the current vice-president and registrar, with responsibility for academic developments, was always thought likely to secure the post. Rightly or wrongly, some on the campus believed former president Roger Downer - who had spent much of his academic life in Canada - was never fully accepted in UL, despite his impressive stewardship.

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