The Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, has revealed that he intends to introduce the controversial school inspection system, Whole School Evaluation (WSE), into all schools from next year.
WSE, which examines the performance and quality of education in individual schools, dropped down the education agenda during the last two years of the teachers' pay dispute.
But Mr Dempsey told The Irish Times the Department of Education was obliged under the Education Act to introduce WSE.
He said this legislation meant the quality of education in schools had to be monitored on a consistent basis.
"This should not, in any way, be seen as threatening, but as an effort to ensure that our pupils receive the highest standard of education possible," he said.
"The emphasis at second level has to be on schools reviewing and evaluating their own performances. The function of the Department's inspectorate is to give an external evaluation of that," he added.
WSE, which was piloted in a small number of schools a few years ago, is opposed by many teachers who worry that the performance of individual teachers will be discussed in WSE reports. There is also some concern about these reports being made public.
The ASTI has said it will not co-operate with WSE until its pay claim is addressed. The TUI has major difficulties with it and three years ago at its annual conference serious concerns were voiced about the system.
TUI members are particularly worried that teachers will be identified during the WSE process. They are also worried that WSE will be too bureaucratic. The INTO is more favourable towards the idea, but also has problems with some minor details.
As the name implies, WSE concentrates on the whole school operation and not on individuals.
It involves visits to schools by an inspector, but these involve assessing the overall quality of teaching at the school, rather than any one teacher's performance.
Under WSE an inspector would be entitled to enter the classroom and talk to the class and review their copybooks. Feedback and advice may be given to a teacher following the visit.
But the inspector will not be allowed to report an individual teacher to a principal or take the matter further.
Instead, the inspector prepares a report which aims to affirm the positive elements of the work of the school and suggest where improvements might be made. WSE was piloted in 35 schools and most participating teachers responded positively.
On the general issue of inspections at second level, Mr Dempsey said: "I should say that post-primary inspectors have been at the core of developments in improving the quality and transparency of the State examinations in recent years.
" Much of their time has been devoted to innovations such as the introduction of several additional quality assurance measures in the design of papers and in the marking process, the return of scripts to candidates prior to appeals, and a much improved appeal process."