Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will keep an eye on that and table further questions. I welcome the announcement the Minister made about the recruitment of further inspectors. An interesting point of useless information: the word "cigire" is an invented word, made up approximately 100 years ago. There is no derivation for it. It was a mistake which is ironic for the type of job it represents. It is called a ghost word. There are various examples of them and that is one.

They play a very important role. There are many more kids in primary school and more primary schools. I welcome what the Minister has said. We will be keeping an eye on it and I think teachers and parents will too.

I remember the inspector in our primary school. I still know him because his grandkids play football with my kids. He was a very familiar figure in the school. I imagine he was a considerable help to a small school that was starting off then. I have made calls to members of the current inspectorate about problem issues where there is a bit of soft information and I ask either what is the story or do they want to know something. I find it very useful to be able to do that and let them do their job if there was something to do rather than my getting involved in a particular issue. I welcome what the Minister has said and we look forward to its implementation.

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