A leading education figure has described the Department of Education as a "national liability" and an "institutional failure" incapable of instigating reform.
Dr Edward Walsh, former president of the University of Limerick, also said there was too much emphasis on Irish in primary schools and the policy of making Irish compulsory had failed.
"Today no other subject receives as much school time or resources, almost one quarter of the primary education budget is devoted to Irish, at a cost of over €350 million each year," he said. The position of Irish in schools had become a "sacred cow".
He was speaking at the annual conference of the Irish Primary Principals' Network in Galway.
In a provocative speech, Dr Walsh, said the type of education offered at primary schools now was not much different to that provided in the "impoverished and backward Ireland of the 1930s".
He said education policy was "hog-tied within the traditional structures of the Department of Education in a way that makes it difficult for any single individual to bring about the necessary change in a timely way".
He said no one single individual was to blame and many excellent ministers for education and public servants had tried to change things, but with little success.
"However, at a time when use of the Internet is doubling every six months, a Department of Education that takes between nine and 12 years to implement significant educational policy decisions must be looked at as an institutional failure and a national liability".
Dr Walsh is chairman of the Irish Council for Science Technology and Innovation, which advises the Government on science policy.
He described much of the Department's workings as Victorian.
"Central to any consideration of reform and restructuring of the Department must be the question of how best to restore a healthy working relationship between it and the school principals, who are the key to transforming our school system."
He said Irish should continue to be taught in schools, but the current arrangements were too rigid and it meant foreign languages lost out.
Making Irish compulsory was not necessary, "but flexibility at school level is, so that the desired local balance between Irish, English and continental languages is created in the local community".
"A minimum time could be prescribed for each of the national languages. A rich diversity would emerge, ranging from Gaelscoileanna at one end of the spectrum to other schools that may decide to give a strong European emphasis," he added.
The conference continues today with the incoming general secretary of the INTO, Mr John Carr, due to speak in the morning.