Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their contributions and I echo the comments of Deputy Jim Daly that this has been very encouraging. We have dealt with spoken languages, but have the witnesses any information on Latin? I am one of the very few people in the country to have studied Latin at second level - I think the serial number on my junior certificate exam paper was 00005, and there were probably 20 people in the country taking it at the time. Are there any students taking Latin at leaving certificate and how low are the numbers? We have said the emphasis needs to be on oral learning, but there are a certain percentage of students who are linguistically interested, and Latin gives a good foundation for those students. For the purists, it is a subject that many would like to have an opportunity to study and I am fearful it will be lost in the future. What is the position in regard to Latin?