Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to see the Minister is doing his best to work with the Opposition to approach this issue in a common sense and cohesive way. As Teachta Byrne said, it is not all about school admission policies. It must be about nurturing our teanga freisin. I did not quite understand what the Minister meant when he mentioned that pupils would not be taken in - na daltaí ón naíonra. Tá naíonra i gCaisleán Nua agus tá naíonra freisin i gCathair Dhún Uisce agus an tUasal Kathleen Lynch an múinteoir atá ansin. Tá a lán daoine, there are a lot of different nationalities attending that naíonra in Cathair Dhún Uisce. I spoke to its principal at a open day somewhat later than this time last year before they broke for the school holidays. At the open day they had a concert and I was amazed to see the multicultural group of people they had who were singing as Gaeilge. The principal informed me it is much easier for the foreign nationals who are living in Cathair Dhún Uisce to pick up Irish than it is for them to pick up English. She told me Irish is a simple language to learn. The Minister might clarify the position regarding the naionraí.

None of us wants the Irish language to be elitist but we need to have it nurtured and spoken in the home, albeit not in the workplace, but also spoken when people are out socially. It is important we keep it alive. My village was a breac-Ghaeltacht up to 1957. I am glad we have naíonra Caisleán Nua there now but we need to nurture the language. We do not want to lose our teanga completely.

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