Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am very much a product of the Irish education system. I studied Irish in primary and secondary school and I even went to the Gaeltacht on about three occasions and, much to my regret, I still could not converse in Irish. I did make a contribution to the Irish language by virtue of the fact that I sent my children to an all-Irish school so they do not have the same disadvantage as me from that point of view.

I thank the outgoing Irish language commissioner for his dedication, work and obvious concern. The concern is the regret we will all have at the manner of his departure and the fact that he is pessimistic about the future of the Irish language. I also wish Rónán Ó Domhnaill all the best. He will need to see some elevated concern from the Government because there is clearly a problem. The number of people on the street on Saturday show there is a serious issue that must be addressed.

As Deputy Ellis mentioned, it is not exclusively in the Gaeltacht areas that issues arise with the Irish language. North Kildare is not an area in which one would expect to find such a problem. We have four primary schools where teaching is done through the medium of Irish, three of them in the north-east part of the county. The schools in Kilcock, Leixlip and Maynooth are very popular and have refused a place to 200 pupils at primary level because they are over-subscribed. Scoil Uí Riada in Kilcock has allocated 56 places and 94 children have been refused places. Scoil Chearbhaill Uí Dhálaigh in Leixlip was established in 1979, which indicates that it is no fleeting idea. The school has allocated 64 places for September and refused 32 children. In Gaelscoil Uí Fhiaich in Maynooth 62 places have been allocated and 71 children were refused a place. There is no place for those children in secondary school. An entire class of secondary school students is being pushed towards An Aonad in Maynooth, which according to parents is a downgrading in terms of education through Irish because they want their children to be wholly educated through Irish. They understand the difference involved in being immersed in a language and being offered a few subjects in Irish.

There is no shortage of people to assist in the revival of the language but there is a real problem with the necessary provision to allow that to occur. That is a very practical issue. If that position had been articulated 100 years ago when people were talking about the revival of the language and culture they would have been horrified to think that on the cusp of the centenary of a number of major events in our history we refuse to educate children that are queuing up to be educated through Irish. We must examine dimensions of the issue that are not exclusively related to the problems that occur in the Gaeltacht. This is another missed opportunity.

The children that started in the first all-Irish school in north Kildare are now parents and are sending their own children to the same school. We are into the second generation and a community has been established in the area but there is no Gaelscoil for the children to attend. The Gaelcholáiste that was built in Lucan is fully subscribed to by the two Gaelscoileanna in Lucan. A real opportunity is being missed. The information must be factored into the initiatives and a co-ordinated approach must be taken by the Government, including the Department of Education and Skills, in the provision of the opportunities that are so demonstrably absent in the areas to which I draw attention.

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