Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá cúpla ceist agam as Béarla. I thank the witnesses for their contributions and submissions. All of the answers are covered there. It seems to me the problem is the implementation of those suggestions and ideas. I apologise to Ms Ní Chéilleachair but I have to go back to the points that she and Mr. Ó Beaglaoich raised. They say there has been recent engagement with the NCCA on the curriculum changes. As far as I am aware these engagements included looking at associated points. Have the witnesses had any more engagement with the Department of Education since then on the allocation of points?

Within the Gaeltacht areas I am concerned about the reducing numbers in some of the Gaelcholáistí. What would the witnesses propose to do about that? Some of that is due to the depopulation of rural areas but I am particularly concerned that we may end up losing the Gaelscoileanna within the Gaeltacht areas.

Mr. Ó Beaglaioch spoke about the literature and said we need more interesting, engaging and modern literature for young adults. Where does the responsibility for that lie and how can we progress that?

I hear what Ms Ní Chéilleachair is saying about the love of the subject and how we instil that in young people so they can see a purpose for it. How do we do that and create a pull factor for post-primary students? How much of an impact could the Official Languages (Amendment) Bill 2019 have, given that it would mean that 20% of new recruits in the public service would need to be proficient in Irish? Do we have adequate provision in third level through the medium of Irish in further education and in apprenticeships? Could more courses be provided there as an important incentive and how might we do that?

I am interested in the comments that were made on the European framework of languages. That needs to be communicated to the wider public beyond the Irish language conversations.