Professional Development in Ireland

I've been teaching in the Middle East for the past few years, and there's been a significant emphasis on teacher development and training. There's a mandatory requirement that all teachers do 30 hours of PD each year. This is organised by Western educational authorities (universities etc) and delivered in each school be a nominated co-ordinator. As many of the non-Western teachers haven't been trained to the same standards as their Western colleagues, the training can be pretty basic- differentiation etc. However, there have been efforts made to organise workshops with international experts, and these have been quite worthwhile. This past week I attended two day long courses in reading and writing, and was impressed by both. Altogether, I've been struck by the stress placed in teacher development, even if the practical side doesn't always live up to the theory.

My question is- is there such an emphasis placed on continuing professional development in Ireland? I don't have much teaching experience in Ireland as I was forced to seek employment abroad almost immediately after I qualified. In the limited time I spent in schools, I experienced very little in the way of PDs or workshops, and I was sometimes struck by some teachers who had been bypassed by certain developments in pedagogy. For example, I ue Powerpoints in class quite a bit, and one day a teacher asked me what they were, and how could she use them. This lady never used ICT in the classroom, not because she didn't see the value of it, but because she didn't feel confident in doing so. And she was in her mid-40s.

I know there are in-service training days, and I suppose what I'd like to know if they are a) useful and b) whether they are part of a system of continuous, practical professional development in Ireland?

On a ore individual level, what's your experience of professional development in Ireland?