Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

I am one of those who went through the education system with Irish as a compulsory examination subject, even going to the Gaeltacht on several occasions. While I have the cúpla focail, I can only just about follow a conversation in Irish and cannot hold one in it. Yet, I feel I have made a contribution towards the revival of the language by sending both my children to a gaelscoil.

In the early days of the gaelscoileanna, there was great resistance to recognising many of the schools. The quality of the classrooms was of a much poorer standard than those I was educated in decades earlier. The revival of the language and the large increase in those speaking it has not come from the Gaeltacht but from urban areas. The phenomenon was almost an anti-establishment revival, rather than a product of the establishment towards the development of the language. I recall seeing children outside my children's gaelscoil gates have their little arguments through Irish. It came naturally to them as the command language in the school was Irish. In many ways, it was a language revival rather than a cultural revival.

I was a member of my children's school's parent committee. While the majority of members spoke Irish and, despite the fact most meetings were conducted through Irish, they made sure I was included because I was reflective of so many others in the school. There was an absence of elitism. While there was a cultural dimension in the school such as Irish dancing and Gaelic games, the culture in the school remained urban. Great effort was made to translate appropriate text books and reading material for use in the school, which were not readily available, an example of the resistance to these schools.

If we are to grow the language, we cannot be elitist about it. We have a Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, but none with the sole or co-ordinating responsibility for language revival. It is somewhat paradoxical that there is no equality of treatment. The remit of the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Deenihan, is to promote the social, physical and economic development of the Gaeltacht areas and to strengthen Irish as the principal language in the Gaeltacht, in particular in terms of passing it on from one generation to the next. The Department seeks to achieve these objectives through its own programmes and schemes and the bodies under its aegis. The key underlying objective of Government policy in this regard is to maintain the primacy of the Irish language and its related culture in the Gaeltacht. However, in being exclusive in regard to where the language is protected, we give greater emphasis to rural culture and ignore new avenues for revival of the language. I am not against holding on to what we have in Gaeltacht areas because it is unique. However, this approach is, in my opinion, exclusive. Development of the language needs to be inclusive.

I look forward to the day when Irish at leaving certificate level is taken by choice rather than compulsion. I am not in favour of Irish not being a compulsory subject because I believe that if it is not compulsory, many students will drop it. However, this could be considered as an interim or short-term measure. The culture in terms of how Irish is taught is important. One cannot exclude urban people from that culture, which is very often the case. Many people who want to see a revival of the language are not particularly interested in Irish dancing or Gaelic games, which is fine. I watch Spanish football through the medium of Irish and it is quite entertaining. There are some people who believe Irish has to encompass all things or nothing. This creates a resistance in some people, which is not in the interests of the continued revival of the language.

The Minister's remit needs to be much wider than Gaeltacht affairs. It should include a co-ordinating function for the development of the Irish language. While the Department of Education and Skills has a role in relation to Irish schools and the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources has a role in relation to broadcasting, there is no co-ordination between these Departments. Also, I do not believe this issue is being driven at Cabinet level.

There are a number of reasons people who have been through the primary and secondary education systems lose their Irish, including a lack of opportunity to speak it, the need to use it, the manner in which it was taught and its relevance or irrelevance. We must examine the curriculum from this perspective. I was fortunate enough to get a response today to a parliamentary question I submitted only this morning in relation to the 1996 and 2006 census. In 2006, some 235,000 more people than in 1996 could speak Irish, which is positive. Some 12,000 of those people live in the Gaeltacht and 223,000 do not. We must look at where we are going to grow the language in terms of numbers.

I do not have a difficulty with the Gaeltacht being viewed as a unique area that needs to be protected. However, we must be much more inclusive and this needs to happen at Cabinet level.

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