Mr. David Duffy:

It is a very good question. As Mr. MacGabhann has noted, there is a programme in junior cycle around Irish heritage and culture which can be done through the Irish language. It gives another level of interest in the whole area and practice to students whose level of Irish would already be quite good. There has been some preliminary discussion about something similar for the leaving certificate, but I have to emphasise it is very preliminary. Part of the reason behind that is we are all struggling with the idea of how T1 and T2 will interface in the first place, but the uptake of the course in heritage and culture at junior cycle has also been very low. We are trying to find out how low and why that is. The suspicion, and I need to emphasise that it is only at this stage a suspicion, is that it is an issue of resourcing, as Mr. MacGabhann and Ms Loughnane both made reference to. We are talking about more classes, which means more teachers, so that also has to be folded into the issue. The T1 and T2 courses will be premised on the issue of resourcing, and it will be important to provide the additional resources for them.

It is also important to note that on the day of the leaving certificate exam, regardless of whether a student has gone to a T1 school or a T2 school, they can ask for the other exam paper. A student in a T2 school could opt on the day for the T1 paper or students in a T1 school who struggle with T1 could choose at some point to take the T2 course, as is their right. We have a resourcing issue whereby we will have students in T1 schools doing T1 but we will also have students in T1 schools doing T2, which is their entitlement already. There will be a resourcing issue coming off that. The Deputy’s question also raises the importance of maintaining foundation level so that all students can access the course and have exposure to the language.

It is a language so it is very important we maintain the priority of the oral component in the leaving certificate for the purposes of marks because, whether we like it or not, if something acquires marks as part of the leaving certificate, it gains more traction.

We also need to be looking back. An initial review of junior certificate Irish is taking place at the NCCA, though it has not actually been examined yet because of Covid. The TUI made clear from the very beginning, five or six years ago, that a key element of any initial review of junior certificate Irish has to be the fact the oral component could, depending on school level, carry marks as part of the junior certificate and no longer does. It is important we also prioritise that as part of the initial review of junior cycle Irish.