Ms Carmel Nic Airt:

Yes, it is, for a number of reasons. First, as I said, mar gur Gaelscoil atá ann. Because it is a Gaelscoil, there are people who come and who have clearly expressed their belief in the concept of immersion education. They recognise the benefits of it and for that reason they chose it. It is not just the language. We are not about reviving a language. Reviving the language happens as a consequence of Gaelscolaíocht. It is a method of education where we set about providing a particular form of education trí mheán na Gaelainne. That is the primary reason they are there. The second reason is because we are a mixed school. As the Deputy will know, there is no other mixed school in the town of Clonakilty that is available to those people who cannot afford to have a second car or to have a parent at home to drive them to or from school.

Third, the fact it is a multidenominational school is a huge attractive factor. Another factor that cannot ever be overlooked, and I know I am possibly overstressing this or the committee may feel I am but I cannot stress it enough, is that we were the first school in west Cork to set up a specific ASD unit for children at the lower end of functioning. There are lots of units around and they do not cater for those children at what I would call the lower level of functioning. We specifically directed our enrolment policy towards those children because we saw they were not being catered for. We also saw that children who were neamhlabhartha - non-verbal - were not being catered for in the units that were already in existence. We now have five class spaces in the school. The school is full. We call the unit Aonad Uí Mhurthuile, after Seán Hurley, the only west Cork man to die in 1916 in Dublin. The fact he was born in the townland in which I was born is another advantage. However, we are very proud of that unit.