Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Imagine if there was a cost free solution with proven track records in regard to academic performance which would make it easier to learn a third or fourth language, would create a greater understanding of and openness to different cultures and languages around the world, would make it easier to score higher in English or mathematics and would improve the cogitative ability of students. There is such a process which is called bilingual education. Internationally, it is proved to show massive benefits for people and children as they go through the education system.

Currently, there are 139 Gaelscoileanna in this State which 30,000 children attend. Since this Government came to power two and a half years ago, it has not set up a single Gaelscoil. No Government in this State has ever set up a Gaelscoil. Without the activism of parents, there would not be a Gaelscoil sector in this State. Currently, 5% achieve a Gaelscolaíocht while the demand for same is 25%. Almost every Gaelscoil in the country has excess demand which cannot be said of any other sector.

In the past four years, four Gaelscoileanna have been built. As I said, no Government has ever created a Gaelscoil; parents create them. They are usually housed in very bad environments, in prefabs or in temporary accommodation for 15 to 20 years before the Government provides a solution. There are plenty of examples of this.

In the Sandymount-Ringsend area of Dublin, there was a competition in regard to patronage and despite there being 600 children on a waiting list who were refused access to three Gaelscoileanna in the locality, the competition was won by Educate Together. I am not saying Education Together should not have won the competition; it is not an either-or option. In fact, one could easily have a Gaelscoil Educate Together but that option is not given by the Department in regard to competitions for patronage.

Other areas which have shown excess demand for Gaelscoileanna include Navan, Kells and Oldcastle in my county, Crumlin in south Dublin, Fairview and Clontarf in north Dublin, Kilkenny, New Ross and Clane. In north Cork, there is oversubscription to the four closest Irish medium schools and at least 13 section 29 cases have been taken against one of these schools but there is no new provision planned by the Government.

I have had discussions with English speaking schools. Many of them are struggling to get students and see any Irish language stream as an opportunity to gain extra students and to improve the service they provide to their students. I have contacted the Department of Education and Skills to try to seek support for these Irish language streams but I have been sent from Billy to Jack trying to find anybody who knows anything about such supports for Irish language streams. If one Googles Irish language streams in education, all of the results will be for the North of Ireland. There are no results on the first page will be for the South of Ireland. There is a serious demand for Irish language education and there are serious benefits but the Government is not providing anywhere near enough to meet that demand.

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