The Minster for Education, Mr Noel Dempsey, today angered teachers and their union officials when he said that some teachers were being paid for not doing their jobs.
Mr Dempsey was speaking to around 800 delegates at the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) conference in Bundoran, Co Kerry.
There was heckling, booing and a slow hand clap when Mr Dempsey made the accusation.
"There are quite a number of people - deputy principals and so on - who are not doing the job they are paid to do," Mr Dempsey told delegates.
Mr John Carr, secretary general of the INTO said that Mr Dempsey had added "insult to injury", considering that primary school leadership was already "demoralised" by run-down schools.
He added that Mr Dempsey's speech was "long on vision but short on delivery".