Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I appreciate the points the Deputy makes and that he is genuinely trying to do something to promote the Irish language. People have been attempting to do that since the foundation of the State. Concerns have been raised about the spoken language for as long as I can remember and people have been trying to improve the situation by one means or another. In more recent years efforts have been made to get more people involved in the language. This Government, and successive Governments, have resourced these initiatives. We have tried to maintain a separate Department for Irish, train more teachers and put much more resources into the teacher training colleges, to promote the language. We have a language Bill, Bille na Gaeilge, put money into TG4 and more recently we have made resources available for the Gaelscoileanna, the scoileanna lán-Ghaelach, which are promoting the language.

I do not claim to be an expert in the subject, so I am not going to turn myself into one for two minutes. However, the argument is that if any level of compulsion is removed, students not in Gaelscoileanna might take no interest in the language and that the limited amount of Irish among the majority of the population will be further limited. As mentioned by Deputy Kenny, the statistics prove that when compulsory Irish at leaving certificate was removed from the equation, fewer people took the subject and that trend has continued down through the years. I do not know whether the more recent surveys show this, but that was certainly evident some time ago. The danger is that this trend will continue. A great number of people indicate on the census form that they have some facility in Irish. The reality is, however, this too is declining.

I recently saw a programme on the Welsh language and what was being done in Wales to promote it through the schools and television. All such initiatives are necessary. From a Government viewpoint, however, my concern is that if Irish is taken out of the schools the amount of Irish will be even more limited in ten years time. The decision in 1973, as I recall, was made on the basis that perhaps more people would speak Irish, but this was not the experience and that hypothesis did not hold up.

The Deputy asked for my view and I believe that what is happening in the Gaelscoileanna is a good initiative. It is an expensive initiative. Equally, what is happening in the colleges, in St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra, the Marino Institute, Coláiste Mhuire gan Smál, Limerick etc., is a good investment and should be continued. The investment in TG4 and its independence, with the station operating on its own, is also doing a very good job for the language. These are all good initiatives.

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