Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair for allowing me in to ask questions today. It is very much appreciated. I want to go back to something discussed earlier. I do not want to put too much pressure on Ms Lyons but I cannot leave without asking this question. I ask it in a dual role, both as a parent of a child who has gone through a Gaelscoil before moving on to an English-medium secondary school and as the parent of another two who are in the process of going through the same school and who will most likely also move on to an English-medium secondary school. In that respect and based on the information Ms Lyons gave Deputy Andrews, has the Department had a chance to look at Mullingar? We have two Gaelscoileanna. We have not had a new secondary school built within the town in my lifetime. Of the two Gaelscoileanna that are there, one is quite newly constructed. It was in temporary accommodation. It is called Gaelscoil an Choillín. It got a new build a number of years ago. It is a very good and successful school that is definitely growing. We also have Gaelscoil an Mhuilinn, which has been there for a considerably longer length of time. I will again raise the issues that have been raised before.There is no Irish-medium secondary school for these students to progress to.

I will keep this brief. My second question relates to the area of the exemptions from studying the Irish language that are being provided to students. The statistics show that there was an increase of almost 24% in the number of exemptions provided between 2020 and 2021. In that one school year alone, there was an increase of 24%. However, the majority of those who are exempt from Irish opt to study another language, pointing to there being no educational aversion to language learning that would inhibit the study of Irish. It is more so an aversion to studying the Irish language. Has a situation now arisen that is almost of an exclusionary nature and in which those students who are struggling with the Irish language are simply opting for an exemption from it because the supports are not there to provide education to students that is appropriate to their abilities and needs?

I will go back to an issue Deputy Connolly raised, which is the issue of contact time. What is the Minister's response to an article in The Irish Timeson comments by Professor Pádraig Ó Duibhir who described as insulting and Donald Trump-like the suggestion that spending less time with Irish would improve students' ability and who said that the evidence commissioned by the NCCA and what the Department inspectors have consistently been saying are being ignored time and again? I heard and understand what the Minister said about pressure on the curriculum but surely the best place for a younger person to be exposed to the Irish language, to gain a fundamental knowledge and appreciation of it and to have it embedded in his or her everyday world is somewhere he or she is five days a week, that is, in school.