Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In 50% of schools it already was a requirement at junior level anyway. There is a bit of a misconception about what is being proposed.

I wish to return to another issue. If a student does not have leaving certificate higher level Irish, he or she cannot become a primary school teacher. If he or she goes to a school that does not offer higher leaving certificate Irish, he or she cannot become a primary school teacher, effectively. Unfortunately, that means that a number of schools will be disadvantaged. On the designation, I think the standard of Irish that graduates have when they leave teacher training college is more important than the standard of Irish they have when they enter teacher training college. There is not necessarily any evidence to suggest that having higher level Irish makes you a half decent Irish teacher at primary level. Does Mr. Moran think it is in the capacity of the Department to facilitate a student, who, for example, does not have access to higher level Irish in a particular school to be taught remotely, rather than the student having to physically move to a different place or somebody having to physically come to that school to teach them? I think what remote learning has shown us is that there is potential - notwithstanding digital development and all the rest of it - to shake up the subject choice and the subject level choice for students who, heretofore, may have been disadvantaged because of the nature or dynamic of their school and the pressures schools are under.