Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that there are mixed and different views in this regard but we must recognise that there are demands being placed on the curriculum and that we have to expand it. It would be erroneous to think that the only experience of Irish is in the allocated hours. We have seen many other initiatives, for example, the content and language integrated learning, CLIL, programme through which PE is being taught through the Irish language in our schools. As I have already referenced, we are seeing the social aspect of the language being used with the experience of the music and the culture and all of that. We walk a very fine line here. We have given autonomy to the schools to maximise their use of these hours. If they have identified that they should be used for the Irish language, they are free to use them in that way to support the Irish language. However, I will again say that there is no direct vision to go after any one particular subject. All subjects have had to give a little to accommodate the ever-changing demands on the curriculum.