INTO conference: This time last year, as INTO boss John Carr reminded delegates, they were in the middle of this "pantomime" with Noel Dempsey about whether he would bother to attend their conference, writes Seán Flynn.
This was the same Minister, he said, who had dispatched inspectors to schools in the pre-Christmas period to check if teachers were respecting the new common school year.
The new Minister had sent a Christmas card to every school in the country, thanking teachers for their contribution. And the inspectors, Carr told delegates, were confined to barracks.
All around the INTO conference yesterday you could sense the warm glow between Mary Hanafin and the 750 delegates. A former secondary teacher at Sion Hill, Dublin, she is regarded by teachers as "one of their own". Delegates queued up to tell reporters about her "natural empathy" with teachers and her "feel" for what is gong on in the classroom.
Hanafin's lively, good-humoured speech - full of whimsical tales from her tour of classrooms all over the country - was punctuated by applause.
The speech may have been big on aspiration and, save for some sections, short on detail. But delegates did not seem to mind. When she finished, there was sustained applause, which continued for what seemed like an eternity.
Reflecting on the new era, John Carr said openness had now replaced rancour and the previous mistrust between the INTO and the education minister.
"The days of being treated like the usual suspects are gone. The era of the minister cloaking himself in patronising rhetoric is also consigned to the dustbin," he said.
So a new teacher-friendly regime is in place, and all is right with the world?
Not quite. Even before Mary Hanafin reached the airport for her flight to the next big teacher gathering, the Asti conference in Cork, John Carr was back on his feet - and the mood had changed dramatically.
INTO forensic detectives had been holding the Minister's speech up to the light, and the verdict was not good.
Yes, progress had been made on disadvantage and special needs. But the Minister had failed to deliver on the union's No 1 priority, reducing class size. By now, John Carr had forgotten about the love-in with Mary Hanafin, and the mood had darkened.
They would, he declared, intensify the campaign on class size.The INTO would be seeking a meeting with the Taoiseach to convey to him the depth of anger and frustration among teachers about the broken promises on the issue.
As INTO president Austin Corcoran had earlier reminded delegates, Irish schools continued to endure class sizes that were significantly larger than the EU average of one teacher per 20 pupils.
Broadly, the INTO wants a maximum of 25 in all schools and smaller classes for disadvantaged pupils. Mary Hanafin is committed to greatly reduced class sizes in disadvantaged schools but, as the INTO sees it, the Government is fighting shy of making the kind of firm commitment it wants on class size in every primary school.
The union warns that it is poised to take any action it deems necessary to make progress on the issue. In the coming weeks, it will be seeking the support of school management and parents.
The INTO is a formidable lobbying machine. Its campaigns have already helped to achieve minor miracles on issues such as special needs and school buildings. Now it is turning its sights on class size.
Later, on radio, John Carr stressed that he was in no way "going over the Minister's head" by canvassing the Taoiseach directly. The issue of class size was clearly a Government issue, which must be brought to the attention of the Taoiseach.
It seems unlikely that the INTO's tactics will see any frisson developing in the relationship between the union and the Minister, at least in the short term.
But yesterday the INTO served notice that it will want more than honeyed words. It will want Mary Hanafin to deliver on the key issues.