Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I am taking this topical issue debate on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills. Primary education plays a pivotal role in the preservation and expansion of the first official language. The promotion of the Irish language has been an important aim of successive Irish Governments and its place in our education system has been consistently protected. This is reflected in the fact that in recent years a significant number of new gaelscoileanna have been recognised by the Department of Education and Skills. A total of 18 new gaelscoileanna have been established since 2005 and another gaelscoil is scheduled to open this September in Mulhuddart, County Dublin. These openings bring the total number of Gaelscoileanna to 141, with a combined enrolment of 29,675 pupils in the 2010-11 school year. In addition, there are 106 Gaeltacht all-Irish primary schools with a total enrolment of 7,302 pupils in the 2010-11 school year.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Minister announced in June 2011 that 20 new primary and 20 new post-primary schools are to be established in the next six years across a number of locations. The Minister also announced new arrangements for the recognition and determination of patronage of these new primary and secondary schools. The new arrangements published by the Department provide a balanced approach to allow applications to be made by prospective patrons for the establishment of schools. The criteria to be used in deciding patronage of the new schools place a particular emphasis on parental demand for plurality and diversity of patronage, which also includes preference for all-Irish school provision.

The Deputy will also be aware that the forum on patronage and pluralism in the primary sector, which is a key objective of the programme for Government, was officially launched by the Minister in April 2011. The outcome of the forum will inform him on the practicality of how transfer and divesting of patronage would operate for individual primary schools in communities where it is appropriate and necessary to take such an initiative. It will also inform him on how such transfer and divesting can be advanced to ensure that demands for diversity of patronage, including from an Irish language perspective, can be identified and delivered in areas where parental and community demand is greatest. It will be interesting to see how the actual identification of demand for all-Irish provision, both nationally and within particular areas, compares with the survey results to which the Deputy referred. The Minister expects that the report of the forum will also include recommendations on how demand for all-Irish primary education can be met in areas where demographic factors would not justify the establishment of new primary schools.

The advisory group appointed to convene the forum held a number of public meetings during June and November 2011. The group sought and received submissions from the education stakeholder groups and the public as part of its work. It is now finalising its report and the Minister expects to receive it shortly.

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