Mr. Paul Caffrey:

I happened to be looking at the business plan of our own inspectorate region and there is an inspection in Latin in one of the schools in the next week or two.

I cannot remember where. Not only is it being taught; it is also being inspected. When I did my leaving certificate, it was Latin or Latin. Again, that was the NUI, for which it was a matriculation requirement at the time. That was seen to be inappropriate so then an avalanche of French came in. The problem is curriculum space. With the new junior certificate programme the possibility is there for short courses, while transition year also provides a possibility. I know one school in Dublin where all first year students take Latin and some continue with it. A student in my niece's class is studying Latin for the leaving certificate this year. It is certainly there, but the numbers are small, for an understandable reason. Not everyone will appreciate that, but I certainly do. Again, the flexibility offered by the new junior cycle framework will provide space for short courses in particular.

We come back to the question of teacher supply, which means long-term planning. How many teachers in the system can teach Latin? There is a wonderful programme in the UK called Minimus, which one can check on the Internet. It is a Latin programme for primary school students. The idea is that they learn much about languages, culture and European heritage through study. Minimus is a little mouse character.