Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I was one of those characters who qualified as a teacher of history and geography. I never taught because even in 1986 when I qualified there seemed to be a move away from it. There were few opportunities in Dublin to teach both subjects. I was expected to move to some of the voluntary schools outside Dublin and at that stage my political career dictated that I would stay in Dublin. Perhaps it was a good thing.

I was a product of Tony Gregory's teaching. He sparked a great interest in history in people who otherwise would not have had an interest. He used to hold a double class on a Friday during the leaving certificate years. We never spoke about history or the curriculum but he managed to link what was happening in politics and with his career at the time, with Dublin and with Ireland to history in a way that most of us did not understand back then. It was a joy that we appreciated afterwards. I can guarantee that no one in that class or the other classes he taught failed at history. Unknown to themselves the students were learning the true value of history and how it is vital for society.

History is one of those subjects that creates the citizen not the consumer. As people in a republic we should remember that much when we are formulating an education system. There are certain core subjects which set out our values. If many people had their way there would only be two core subjects, that is, English and mathematics. Irish would have been jettisoned many years ago to one of those small topics to which one could dip in. The attitude is that if one wants to look at Irish one goes to the museum. It was only as a result of people fighting the attitudes that prevailed that we have made progress. The argument was that the approach was failing and that compulsion does not work. However, compulsion does not work if the resources are not matching or if the teachers are not enthused about it. In such cases it becomes nothing but a chore for young people. The same could be said of any of the subjects in the junior certificate cycle. I often say that if it is not broken then we should not fix it but there is no point in fixing it if it will not work. In this case I firmly believe that this proposal is detrimental to the teaching of history at leaving certificate level in future and at university level as well. We need to reconsider it.

Ms Naughton remarked that we should look at the model for English being developed at the moment.