O’Dowd’s visits to own constituency questioned
John O'Dowd is welcomed to Ballyoran Primary School on Portadown's Garvaghey Road last October by principal Richard Woolsey and vice principal Roisin Daly. Photo: Tony Hendron
ONE in four of education minister John O’Dowd’s school visits have been to just one constituency — his own — it has been revealed.
The Sinn Fein minister has visited schools in his own Upper Bann constituency 10 times since taking office last May — almost a quarter of his total visits to schools.
By the law of averages, if Mr O’Dowd had 42 visits available to schools, he should have visited between two and three schools in each of the 18 constituencies.
However, the huge spike in the number of visits to schools in his own Assembly seat area means that many schools in other constituencies have been rejected.
In total, Mr O’Dowd has turned down 64 schools hoping for a ministerial visit, including five in his own constituency.
Out of a total 42 school visits the minister has not visited schools in five constituencies — North Down, Strangford, East Antrim, South Antrim and East Belfast.
Strangford, North Down and East Belfast are three of the four constituencies where Sinn Fein does not have an MLA.
The fourth, Lagan Valley, had a Sinn Fein MLA until last May. It was visited three times by Mr O’Dowd since the election.
A spokesman for Mr O’Dowd last night denied that he considered Sinn Fein’s election prospects when considering which school invitations to accept.
But Green Party leader Steven Agnew, who uncovered the figures through an Assembly question, questioned whether Mr O’Dowd’s lack of visits to certain constituencies were linked to the lack of votes for the minister’s party.
Mr Agnew, who represents North Down, said: “This forces me to ask the question ‘Is Mr O’Dowd not coming to this constituency because there are no votes for his party here?’
“This is particularly disappointing in the light of the land-swap situation surrounding Bangor Central Integrated Primary School.
“In recent months teachers and parents from Bangor Central have repeatedly asked for a meeting with the education minister but he has consistently refused.
“Here is an exemplary school that needs the minister’s help right now and instead of intervening, he is hiding behind process and failing in his duties to the school, the parents and most importantly the children.”
A Department of Education spokesman said: “The minister takes his responsibility under the Ministerial Code to serve all the people very seriously, and does not take electoral consideration into account when planning his diary.”
Mr Agnew has also established through an Assembly question to the minister that he has received 119 invitations to visit schools, 52 of which he has accepted and 62 of which he has declined.
Those figures show that a majority of the invitations which Mr O’Dowd has accepted have been from Roman Catholic or Irish medium schools.
However, Mr O’Dowd has also visited the well-known state grammar schools Methodist College, Regent House and Wellington College.
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Tuesday 29 May 2012
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