Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

Gabh mo leithscéal, ach níl Gaeilge maith agam. In that context, I am not sure if I understood everything the Deputy said. It is a reflection on the education system, in which I spent 14 years, that I can speak a number of languages other than English but that Irish is not one of these. My father was a fervent Gaelgóir and I was not, therefore, raised in a home that was hostile to the language.

The status of Irish as a compulsory examination subject - as set out in the programme for Government - will remain. We must face up to the fact that many children who commence school with a positive attitude toward Irish do not, for reasons I do not fully understand, retain that attitude. We must examine why that is the case. We must consider, for example, the amount of time teachers spend teaching Irish relative to and in the context of the outcomes achieved and the ability of young people to speak the language in an enthusiastic fashion. We must approach this issue honestly.

Bringing the pupil-teacher ratio at gaelscoileanna into line with that which obtains in other schools is a consequence of the necessity to spread the reduction in resources as equitably as possible across the system. It would be intolerable that a gaelscoil might, by virtue of its status, have a different pupil-teacher ratio to that which obtains in an ordinary school.

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