Ms Bláthnaid Ní Ghréacháin:

We welcome the principles of equality, transparency and inclusivity which underpin the core provisions of the Bill. Our primary concern about the Bill is that there is no clear provision made for Irish-medium schools to protect the language ethos of the school by granting permission to them to set out criteria in their enrolment policies that would allow them to give priority to children being raised through Irish and children whose home language includes Irish. Additionally, the prohibition on giving preference to children attending Irish-medium preschools in the enrolment criteria of an Irish-medium primary school is a cause of grave concern. Parents and their children have a legitimate expectation in terms of progression from Irish-medium preschools to primary and post-primary education and this must be recognised in the Bill.

We recognise that enrolment criteria, by their nature, are discriminatory but they only apply where there are insufficient places in schools to meet demand. Over-subscription disproportionately affects Irish-medium schools and our figures indicate that 29% of Irish-medium primary schools and 22% of Irish-medium post-primary schools cannot cater for the demand. Of those that can, all applicants are accepted. That is an important point. We acknowledge that refusal based on over-subscription causes great dissatisfaction, narrows school communities and compromises the rights of children to inclusive education.

To protect the language ethos of Irish-medium schools and the rights of children whose home language is Irish and includes Irish, we consider the following three steps imperative. Irish-medium primary schools should have the right to give priority to children attending a naíonra so children can continue to benefit from all the linguistic and cognitive benefits of early immersion in Irish. Irish-medium primary schools that are over-subscribed should be permitted to give priority to children whose language is and includes Irish. Irish-medium post-primary schools should also be permitted to give priority to Irish speaking families who might not necessarily have attended an Irish-medium preschool as well as those who have attended an Irish-medium preschool. The basis for this argument is that we consider it imperative that schools maintain the basic right to protect and maintain the language of instruction and communication of the school and its community, so the future of both the Irish language and the immersion education model in Ireland is sustainable.

Irish-medium schools are unique in that they provide cultural and linguistic diversity through the language, as well as diversity of all faiths and none depending on the patronage of a given school. Irish-medium schools welcome and cater for all children, including children from all faiths and none, children from all socio-economic backgrounds, children from all cultural and linguistic backgrounds, children with a diverse range of special educational needs and children from the Traveller community. This diversity offers great richness in terms of the wider educational experiences and linguistic diversity. Schools welcome this diversity and, at the same time, are focused on preserving and developing a strong language policy that is inclusive and progressive for all.

Mar fhocal scoir, we ask the comhchoiste to influence positively the passing of this Bill in a manner that will protect the rights of an Irish-medium school to establish and implement over-subscription criteria that give priority to Irish speaking children. This is fundamental to protecting the immersion education system, a system that is globally recognised as a successful education system not just for native speakers of the respective language, but for all children who can avail of it.