School managers have strongly criticised the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, over his decision to send inspectors to schools on December 23rd last.
Mr George O'Callaghan, of the Joint Managerial Body, which represents the majority of secondary school managers, also criticises a recent letter by the Department of Education and Science.
This asked the chairperson of the boards of management of every school in the country to sign a written guarantee that their schools remained open in the days leading up to Christmas.
The Minister's actions have "enflamed the angst" of many principals, according to Mr O'Callaghan in a letter dated January 15th. They feel they "have once again been placed as the meat between the sandwich of the expected payment of benchmarking for teachers and the need for your Department to publicly question whether such teachers should be paid".
The inspectors visited schools in virtually every county in the State on December 23rd last, and found that some of the schools were closed on that date. However, it is believed that virtually all of these were covered by the various exemptions in the agreement on the common school year.
A similar letter from the Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools to its members also severely criticises the Minister's actions. By asking for a written guarantee from the boards of management of schools, Mr Dempsey had, the letter claims, questioned the integrity of principals.