Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister's response because he seems to be quite positive about the subject. I certainly support his comments on the history of the language. I am not fluent sa Ghaeilge. I wish I had studied it a little more at school. It is certainly something which should also be looked at. If one looks at the recent centenary celebrations in 2016, at how much children bought into them and they learned in school, it shows that the teaching of history can be very beneficial and helpful and it would be a real shame to lose it. We do not want it to be a case of fee paying against non-fee paying schools. We do not want it to become an elitist subject, where only those attending fee paying schools will have the option to study history. I welcome the Minister's points because he seems to be quite supportive of the idea of keeping history and geography as core subjects and promoting and supporting them more. As I said, sometimes history can be viewed as not the most exciting of subjects, but that is a bit of a myth. If it was promoted differently, there would be a greater uptake and more students would take an interest in it.

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