Ruairi Quinn has provoked a strong reaction from primary school teachers by suggesting that Honours Maths should be a minimum requirement to qualify for teacher training.
The Education Minister would like to see teachers - the majority of whom are women - take honours Maths for their Leaving Certificate.
But the 800 delegates at the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) annual conference in Kilkenny were less than pleased with the comments from the Minister.
But speaking afterwards, Minister Quinn said the comments were meant as a compliment.
The Minister earlier said he was disappointed with the pace of reform in how religion is taught in primary schools around the country.
He said that it is regrettable that there are so few examples of 'genuinely inclusive' schools.
The Department of Education is also considering flexible timetabling arrangements for religious education - for example at the start or the end of the day to enable some pupils opt out of classes.
Teachers in the audience were not happy with the suggestion by the Minister of timetable changes.
"We could have more flexible timetabling for religious education; one possibility...was for religion classes to be held at different times for different class groups" he said.
"this would allow students opting out of religion classes to participate in another class".
"I'm talking about possibilities" he added.
The Education Minister is challenging the Catholic Church to explain how their schools can be "genuinely inclusive" for children of all faiths.
He says it is disappointing that the church has failed to give concrete examples, as requested.
Mr. Quinn is currently working on a White Paper on inclusivity in areas where there are only Catholic schools. That is expected to include suggestions that religion classes should be timetabled at the start or end of the day to minimise disruption.
INTO grievances
Last evening the President of the INTO said successive cuts, as well as constant criticism, were destroying morale among teachers.
Brendan OÂ’'Sullivan accused Minister Quinn of talking down the education system in the past.
"Our education system has a long way to go to become world class. The assertion that Ireland has one of the best education systems in the world was frequently trotted out in the past, but is blatantly untrue. And the quote, was from our Minister for Education and Skills - now why would teachers be anything but demoralised and disheartened amid such negativity" he said,
Doing the rounds
The Education Minister will later travel to Wexford for the ASTI event, where teachers are expected to outline their opposition to Junior Cycle reform after voting not to cooperate with it.
And tomorrow the Minister will travel back to Kilkenny, where members of the TUI - who also voted for industrial action in opposition to the proposals - will air their grievances.
