An insider's guide to education

• That dramatic move by Noel Dempsey to signal the return of fees has had the politicos scratching their heads and wondering what precisely is the strategy. Could it be that Dempsey is just appalled by the inequity of the current system? The battle now is to ensure that any savings made from the return of fees or vastly increased registration charges - or both - stays within education. Those mean-spirits in the Department of Finance have been demanding the return of fees for years and would love to put any new money into their kitty.

Don't expect Dempsey to let them have their way. And don't expect any announcement of new fees or charges until the Nice referendum is well out of the way.

• Signs of détente between the Departments of Education and Enterprise over that nasty research row involving Mary Harney. The Tánaiste upset Education and the academic community by establishing a research commission earlier this year. The plan was for Enterprise to take control of the multi-billion pound research budget and give it an increased jobs focus.

TP now hears that she has now agreed to allow two Department of Education officials to sit on the commission in order to appease her detractors. The TCD Provost, John Hegarty, has also been appointed to protect the wider role of research work. The question now is whether the bitterness left by this episode can be put to one side?

• Best wishes to Jackie Hynes, former press officer of the Department of Education who is moving on to new pastures in the Department. Jackie was always helpful and efficient. She will be missed.

•  Dreadful rumours are reaching TP that some senior figures in the teaching unions like to send their own offspring to grind schools like the Institute for Education. Surely not? As the unions have pointed out, these places often ignore the holistic nature of education and concentrate on CAO points. There cannot be anything in this. Can there?

• TP does not always agree with USI president, Colm Jordan. But even his detractors admit he has given a new lease of life to the moribund student movement. Jordan has been everywhere this week slamming Dempsey's Dastardly Plan to re-impose fees. Instead of being marginalised in the debate on the return of fees, USI is now very much at the heart of it. Jordan has a great political sense and a feel for what makes news - witness last week's demo at the Department of Education. He is a political star in the making.

Got any education gossip? You can e-mail us in confidence at teacherspet@irish-times.ie