Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

Modern languages are of enormous importance as we move on in a global world. I hear people commenting on the necessity to learn new languages such as Chinese, Russian, Portuguese and Arabic because of the changing nature of the global economies.

This recommendation was made by the national council dealing with the curriculum. They recommended that, for the present, modern languages should not be part, as an additional and separate subject, of the primary school curriculum. They stressed "for the present". The €2.5 million that was allocated for that, which, as Deputy Martin stated, he started off in 1998, was reallocated to dealing with the national literacy and numeracy strategy, which is important as well for children who are challenged in that particular area. It is not an issue that is finalised for good. They specifically stated it is "for the present", while this matter is being reviewed.

The EU matters website, as I understand it, was launched in 2009 after the Lisbon treaty referendum. The information that was on that site was certainly relevant when it was set up, but it was never systematically reviewed and is now largely historical in nature. While the section dealing with European Union affairs has transferred from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to the Department of the Taoiseach, that link was taken down. It is now being reviewed, both in the context of relevant information but also to look at the question of whether one should expand this with the other social interactions such as Facebook and Twitter which have been incorporated into the stabilitytreaty.ie website. That matter is under active review by the Department and I expect it to make a decision on this fairly soon.

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