Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 487: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of inspectors within the primary school sector in each year over the past five years; if each primary school would receive a visit from an inspector every year or two years and so on; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25181/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The number of primary district and divisional inspectors employed within the Inspectorate of the Department of Education and Science on the 30 September for each of the past five years is as follows:

2003 — 72 primary inspectors

2004 — 77 primary inspectors

2005 — 71 primary inspectors

2006 — 74 primary inspectors

2007 — 82 primary inspectors

It should be noted that the number of inspectors involved in the evaluation of schools and teachers may vary throughout any given year due to assignments to other duties, secondments, or maternity leave.

The Inspectorate of my Department will conduct more than 2,500 inspections in primary schools during 2007. This figure includes 246 primary Whole-School Evaluations (WSE) and more than 2,300 inspections of primary teachers on probation. Inspectors, therefore, visit a significant proportion of the 3,284 primary schools in the country each year in the context of their inspection work and this is beneficial in terms of engaging with school principals and teachers and providing advice.

Up-to-date information on the inspections that have been carried out in primary and post-primary schools and the list of published reports are available on the Department's website (www.education.ie).