Jimmy Devins (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin. Scoileanna Lán-Gaeilge receives almost 40% extra in per capita funding and each school has one additional teaching post in its overall allocation. An additional allowance of €3,068 is also paid to teachers who teach through Irish in Gaeltacht schools.

Providing textbooks and teaching materials in Irish is a core function of An Comhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta. Funding for an comhairle for this purpose has been increased significantly and further expansion of its services is in train.

A co-ordinating committee has also recently been established which represents an comhairle, Foras na Gaeilge and Udarás na Gaeltachta and which reports jointly to the Departments of Education and Science and Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. This committee works co-operatively in developing plans to extend the range of teaching and learning materials for Gaeltacht and all-Irish schools.

The Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs also funds a scéim na gcúntóirí teanga to strengthen Irish as a spoken language among young people in the Gaeltacht and to guide the linguistic behaviour of school children towards the use of Irish. Under this scheme, fluent Irish speakers are sent to Gaeltacht schools where they assist children who do not have Irish as their first language or who require further help.

A total of 113 Gaeltacht schools, including primary and post-primary schools, benefit from the scheme. It assists children who do not have sufficient Irish to develop their fluency in an enjoyable way through play, games, drama, rhymes and songs. Last summer a separate scheme, scéim na gcampaí samhraidh, provided a course to support second level students attending all-Irish education in the Gaeltacht.

Pobalscoil Corca Dhuibhne is an amalgamation of two existing schools, Meanscoil na Toirbhite and Meanscoil na mBraithre Chríostaí. In 1989 the managements of Meanscoil na Toirbhite and Meanscoil na mBraithre Chríostaí proposed to amalgamate the two schools into a single co-educational voluntary secondary school. In March 1998, the management authorities sought departmental approval to change the status of the proposed school to a community school. Approval was given in early 1999 for the change of status following consultations between trustees, boards of management, staff and parents of the two schools and the school was to be a community school under County Kerry VEC.

Both schools which amalgamated to form the new community school were classified as Scoileanna Lán-Gaeilge. Pobalscoil Corca Dhuibnne has the same classification as a scoil lán-Gaeilge. In the context of the amalgamation, the issue of the language of tuition of a number of pupils arises from the reaffirmation, by the board of management of Pobalscoil Corca Dhuibhne, of the characteristic spirit of the new school as an all-Irish Gaeltacht school in which the language of tuition is exclusively Irish. No party to the discussions of the amalgamation raised this issue with the Department of Education and Science.

The Department first became aware of this as an issue of concern for some students and parents when a parent contacted it in July. In August, the Department wrote to the board of management of the new community school requesting that it bring forward proposals to ensure that students could complete their post-primary education without substantially altering the conditions of tuition under which they had hitherto been enrolled. Since the school reopened in September, the Department has received representations from several parents concerned about the situation. Some parents have made representations in support of the board of management's position.

In September, the Department wrote to the trustees of the school requesting their direct involvement with the board of management in developing definitive proposals as to how students who have been taught, at least partially, through English can continue to receive instruction in a way that does not substantially disadvantage them. It was pointed out that such proposals would need to involve a commitment that those students already enrolled should be facilitated in completing their post-primary education in the manner in which they have been taught to date.

These students could be strongly encouraged to engage with the Irish language supports already outlined by the board but, as students already enrolled in the school, they have a legitimate expectation that they will continue to be taught in the manner in which they have been to date. I urge all parties to work together in a constructive manner to find a solution to this issue. My Department has been in regular contact with the trustees and at a senior level is involved in active dialogue with them in seeking a resolution to the current impasse.

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