The Irish education system has been constantly evolving through the influence of philosophy, social change and the history of the state. It is my opinion that sociological changes have had a huge influence on the policies implemented in the Irish education system. The policy I will focus on is that of equal educational opportunities for all, with particular attention to the sociological aspect of these changes. I will examine the politics of equal education in terms of social class and gender. In the early 19th century education was only open to the children of middle and upper class families, this was especially true of second and third level education. The reason for this was twofold: firstly working class families simply could not afford the expenses of sending a child to school or paying for books and equipment, secondly children had to work to help support their families. Middle and upper class families could pay for education if they deemed it necessary, so education was seen as a commodity. John Coolahan states this by saying, “Secondary education was seen as a concern for the middle classes who, if they saw fit, would have to purchase it as a commodity” (Coolahan 1981). A second important issue is that of gender, policies have been implemented that have allowed girls to go from not having access to education to now regularly outperforming their male counterparts. The role of women in society was seen as that of the "housewife" who took care of the children and cooked dinner. Because of this role it was seen that there was no need to educate girls and it took a long period of time for changes to be successfully made. There was a progressive change during the nineteenth century regarding the values ​​and... the center of the map. .....they come from a working or middle class family. The second issue that affected educational equality in the Irish education system was gender. The vast majority of girls in the 19th century did not receive an education, and it took almost 70 years for the situation to change significantly. Changes in education and society have led to girls generally succeeding in education and often outperforming boys. Here we have two ways in which the policy was not followed and changes were made. One was not entirely successful as middle class families can send their children to “best schools” while the other did. If nothing else, the inclusion of girls in the education system has been hugely successful and now the government must look at ways to close the gender gap. Methods for creating peer education must be constantly examined and developed to meet expectations.