James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh míle maith agat, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I am delighted to have the opportunity to contribute to statements on the 2020 strategy for the Irish language. I disagree with Deputy Healy-Rae about compelling people to do something against their will because compulsion belongs to another era. We are living in the 21st century and people should have free choice. People should be educated, not forced or driven like herds of cattle. I hope Deputy Healy-Rae does not think one can drive people into doing something against their will. I would not like to see that happening in a modern society.

As a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht, I have had a fair deal of experience of issues relating to the Irish language and the Gaeltacht in recent years. I have always believed that the Irish language is an emblem of our national identity and we should always recognise its value and cultural importance, together with our customs and other aspects that give us our Irish identity.

The importance of Irish is enshrined in our Constitution, Article 8.1 of which states: "The Irish language as the national language is the first official language." Many decades before these words were written, however, the shift from Irish to English as the main language had already begun. One of the key aims of the 2020 strategy is to strengthen the position of the language within our education system. According to recent reports, teaching inspectors have judged that Irish was taught to a good or very good standard in only half of the primary classrooms inspected. In addition, pupils in just over half of the lessons were able to express themselves to a satisfactory level in Irish. This point is reinforced by the Harris report of July 2007. It found that a little over half of pupils were competent in oral communications in 1985 in English-medium schools, while less than one third had mastered them in 2002.

The study also found a marked decline in teachers' confidence, with almost 25% of teachers in English-medium schools rating their own standards of spoken Irish as weak. This is a fundamental problem, so we really need a comprehensive reform of teaching Irish. We must reform the curriculum and focus on the teaching of Irish as a living language, a language of modern communication. We need to overhaul the way in which Irish is taught at primary and second level schools. We must ensure teachers are equipped with the right tools to instil a love of the language for all students. In addition, the curriculum must be designed to inspire students to continue speaking Irish after leaving school. Reinventing the way we teach Irish will encourage more students to engage with it once they leave the classroom.

The Government's strategy will focus on supporting the development and preservation of the language by a long-term commitment to ensuring its future as a living, spoken language with a firm position in the education system. Such a firm position can be achieved when steps are taken within the strategy. The steps include, for example, the proposal of a new Gaeltacht scholarship scheme to be introduced for primary teachers to attend intensive courses in the Gaeltacht or when the tuition time and attendance of student teachers who attend Gaeltacht courses is increased. These are a few small steps that we can take as part of a much wider framework to ensure the Irish language achieves a much firmer and more sustained position within our education system.

I also welcome the series of initiatives and State supports designed to bolster economic activity and entrepreneurship among the Irish-speaking community. The new Irish language and Gaeltacht authority will facilitate the creation of a business network for Gaeltacht and other Irish-language businesses. This network will work to support businesses providing services through Irish in order to raise awareness throughout the business community of the link between the language and economic development.

We should remember that the Irish language was once spoken the length of breadth of this Island. It was once our true native language. In the 21st century, we should seek to increase the number of families throughout the country who use Irish as their daily language of communication. That should be our aim. I commend the Minister of State on all his work on this matter, to date. In the last few years he has become very proficient and fluent in the language. He will be encouraging other Members of the House to become involved in language tuition.

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