Private Education in Ireland

                                        Diarmuid Hegarty, founder and president of Griffith College, Ireland's largest                                             private college. Photograph: Alan Betson

 From the Irish Times:

‘We don’t serve the elite’: How Diarmuid Hegarty built Ireland’s largest private third-level institution

Back in the 1970s Diarmuid Hegarty was in high demand among aspiring accountants.

Failure rates for the chartered accountancy exams were incredibly high – seven out of eight students flunked them – but the quality of Hegarty’s grinds was legendary.

While a promising career as a tax consultant lay ahead of him in a top accountancy firm, his sideline business grew to the point where he had a choice to make.

“I remember at the time thinking, will I look back and say that I was responsible for that amendment in the tax act? Or will I look back on having helped students?” says Hegarty. The decision, he says, was easy.

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And of course, it's a no-brainer for all of us who teach young people and try to inspire them!

 

Selected films

Dead Poet's Society

The Holdovers