An insider's guide to education
The TUI is still reeling from what has already been dubbed "Jokegate" out at their leafy Rathgar HQ.
Things began to spiral out of control at the union's conference dinner when fraternal delegate Tom McKee from the Northern Ireland union NASUWT told a series of gags about young teachers. Suffice to say Marie Humphreys, a member of the TUI executive, was not amused and made her feelings known.
An inquiry of sorts is now under way and Tom has apologised for his sins. But to make matters worse, the Department's assistant secretary, Martin Hanevy, has also been drawn into the cross-fire.
Hanevy, the brillant ex-head of the exams branch, told a harmless story about tomcats and consultants. But guess what? Some people are also objecting to that. The question now is who will the TUI be able to book for next year's after-dinner speeches?
A potentially damaging stand-off is developing between the teaching unions and Noel Dempsey over the new Junior Cert science syllabus.
Dempsey would like to press ahead with the shiny new course in September. But this is very ambitious, given the appalling state of science labs in many schools. There is also the small matter of in-service training for teachers .
The TUI is refusing to introduce the new course until action is taken, while ASTI has also signalled its concern.
Dempsey is in a dilemma here. The Government and the business world desperately want to see firm action taken to address the crisis in science. So, failure to implement the new course would be a major embarrassment. But pushing ahead might be impossible if the teacher unions refuse to co-operate.
Pat Cahill, who takes over as ASTI president in August, faces a very difficult task.
Cahill, a trained barrister and former inter-country footballer, is a popular and modest figure, but there are already signs that he will have to build bridges once he arrives in Winetavern Street. There are rumblings of unease among head-office staff about the non-payment of expenses and a review of pension payments.
And then there is the Charlie Lennon question. If Cahill moves against Lennon, he will face a ferocious backlash from head-office staff and others.
