Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)

Some of these schools are expanding and perhaps there are opportunities for other all-Irish schools to expand in future. When the report of the forum on patronage and pluralism is completed, there will be an opportunity to establish the patronage models for our schools. This will be driven solely by parental choice and if demand exists, whether in the heart of Connemara or in Athlone, I am confident that we will respond to it. It is open to the patrons and boards of management of existing English medium schools to consider providing some or all of their tuition through the medium of Irish, depending on the level of parental demand. There will be ample opportunities for parents and communities to make that decision and I am confident that many will do so.

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