Ms Arlene Forster:

To add to what Mr. Ó Buachalla said, and to pick up on the Cathaoirleach’s point about the T1 specification being used outside Gaeltacht areas and Gaelcholáistí, it is our understanding that the T1 specification could be offered by any school, within that school’s resources and with due regard to the language abilities and proficiency of the students in question. It is very difficult to ascertain to what extent that might become the case. One of the reasons the extension of the consultation to the end of November was so important, from the council’s perspective, was to give greater opportunity to schools. Mr. Ó Buachalla mentioned students as a particular group that we are keen to hear more from, as well as teachers, school leaders and parents. With the extension to the consultation to the end of November, we will hear much more from schools that teach through the medium of Irish and schools that teach through the medium of English.

I will make a final point, which the three of us have mentioned a number of times. The consultation is still open and I encourage everyone with an interest in this area to use the consultation to feed back to us on the draft specifications. There is now an additional opportunity to do that with the extension to the end of November.