An insider's guide to education: Good fun at the conference of the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD) at the very swish Radisson Hotel in Galway last week.
Isn't it extraordinary how some of the delegates - and the Minister for Education - casually refer to the group as the NYPD?
Hanafin received rapturous applause for her address, which touched all the right buttons with the harassed principals.
In the now familiar pattern, the Minister toured the bars and restaurants of the hotel on the night before her address, chatting to delegates and taking note of their concerns. The only fly in the ointment came when she inquired of one party of restaurant guests if everything was okay. Thinking she was the head waiter, they looked down at their meal and murmured "fine, fine".
Great excitement up at DCU in Glasnevin where plans are afoot to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the college, formerly the National Institute for Higher Education (NIHE). The college is also publishing a new strategic plan for the university.
So, happy days then up at the ever-expanding campus? Ah, not quite. The so-called "dot-bomb" phenomenon has been bad news for the college, which is synonymous with the hi-tech sector. DCU struggled this year to fill engineering places and in recent years some computer courses have also been undersubscribed at the points level originally set for them.
The good news? Behind the scenes, the university is working on new and potentially very lucrative links with industry. It is also upping its media game. Shane Kenny, the distinguished former RTÉ journalist and government press secretary, has been hired to raise DCU's profile. And not before time. Despite some temporary hiccups, DCU has a great story to tell. It should be less shy about telling it.
That row about the apparent non-teaching of English in the Gaelscoil in Tralee, Co Kerry, is set to rumble on. Some parents complained that their children in senior and junior infants were being denied any tuition in English.
To its credit, the Department is sending inspectors into the school to find out what is going on. Remarkably, it is unclear whether the school in question - like other Gaelscoileanna - is entitled virtually to exclude English from the most junior classes. You might imagine that every five- and six-year-old should be entitled to a good grounding in English. But the legislation, apparently, is ambiguous.
Minister Hanafin publicly questioned the Gaelscoil's policy last week. But this one may still run and run.
That rumpus about the qualifications of the Government's chief science advisrer, Barry McSweeney, will move to the floor of the Dáil shortly. Labour's education spokeswoman, Jan O'Sullivan, has tabled a series of questions to the Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin, on the matter.
She is asking the Minister "if he is concerned that the office of the chief science adviser may have been damaged" by newspaper allegations. The word is that the Government is standing firmly behind McSweeney, who has an enviable reputation and great experience.
Got any education gossip? E-mail us, in confidence, at teacherspet@irish-times.ie
