Of all people, Tommy Bowe has earned praise for his grilling of politicians in the wake of Budget 2024, after his interview with Norma Foley went viral this week on social media.
In her role as Minister for Education, Foley proudly presented the plans for €10.5 billion's worth of investment in Education and Schools as part of the Budget which was announced earlier this week.
Heavy investment in providing free schoolbooks up to Junior Cycle, Cost of Living supports, and School Transport schemes, but eyebrows were raised by the announcement that €82 million was to be provided for the addition of 1,216 Special Needs Assistants and 744 Special Educational Needs Assistants in classrooms.
These measures were announced during a time where schools are struggling across the board with understaffing, leading Tommy Bowe to grill Foley on the announcement when the Minister for Education appeared on Ireland AM on Wednesday.
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Tommy Bowe pushes Norma Foley for answers on Budget 2024
In a clip of the interview shared to social media, Tommy Bowe pushes Foley on how the Department of Education intends to find the near-2,000 additional teaching staff heralded in Budget 2024 with a simple question from a viewer - "Where the hell are you gonna get them from?"
Bowe goes on to push Foley for a response to the number of young teachers leaving Ireland due to living conditions and the absence of full-time positions, and encourages Foley to stay on topic when she appears to divert away from the line of questioning.
"Where the hell are you going to get them from?"
Tommy asks Fianna Fáil Minister of Education Norma Foley about the additional teacher and SNA posts announced in #Budget2024 pic.twitter.com/nytcT1rlMJ— Ireland AM (@IrelandAMVMTV) October 11, 2023
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As Foley spoke of plans for upskilling teachers and the size of the teaching diaspora in Ireland, Bowe once again reverted back to the original question, which was yet to be answered.
Tommy Bowe earned 69 caps for Ireland at test level, scoring 30 tries across a 13-year international career that saw him win a Grand Slam during the 2009 Six Nations.
He remains one of Ireland's top try scorers of all-time and a beloved sporting figure, and has since become a well-liked host on Virgin Media's Ireland AM after his stint presenting live rugby on Premier Sports.
He is certainly not, however, the kind of figure one would expect to give one of the most thorough televised grillings of a government minister during budget week.
Needless to say, the reaction to the interview on social media was a mixture of befuddlement at the idea of a rugby legend being a more-than-effective political interviewer, and praise for Bowe for not shying away from difficult questions.
Nobody in the current journalistic landscape makes Government ministers squirm with razor sharp hard questioning like
*checks notes*
former international rugby star Tommy Bowe. https://t.co/s2W8guPfiA— Estebantz (@ActingTheGom) October 11, 2023
It's like Tommy Bowe is just enjoying not being told "ROLL AWAY! RELEASE!" https://t.co/oeV5PEn4PJ
— Colm O'Regan (@colmoregan) October 12, 2023
The double take and look on Muireann O’Connell's face when she realised Tommy Bowe was going for it 😂😂😂 https://t.co/n9J93s1nZ9 pic.twitter.com/NJZCAZYvdd
— John Delaney's Barrister (@colonelwest) October 11, 2023
it's pretty telling that Tommy Bowe, a retired rugby player and entertainment TV host, is a more effective interrogator of Government ministers than most career political journalists - many of whom are very sycophantic having traded on their 'access' https://t.co/S5ej3Q7ypX
— Eoin Daly (@eoinmauricedaly) October 11, 2023
Tommy Bowe as a tenacious interrogator of politicians… https://t.co/mFIWsyP5WT pic.twitter.com/sDAZTRt5sY
— Jamie Weir (@jamiecweir) October 11, 2023
Tommy Bowe is the only player whose tackling got harder after he retired.
He is a brilliant interviewer. https://t.co/TsBVR2b8wT— Oisin Langan (@oisinlangan) October 11, 2023
Hands up who had Tommy Bowe as the new Vincent Browne on their 2023 bingo card? pic.twitter.com/MvcxOHJl3r
— liberal latte drinking elitist (@latte_elitist) October 11, 2023
In reality, this is not even the first time that Tommy Bowe has administered a ruthless cross-examination to a government minister on Ireland AM.
Just last year, Bowe was once again widely praised for not allowing Leo Varadkar to shy away from tough questions on homelessness.
We wouldn't be surprised to see ministers be a bit more reluctant to appear on Ireland AM alongside Tommy Bowe in future but, for the sake of well-informed argument, it would be terrific to see him given the chance to speak to more of them.
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