Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This goes beyond what people were thinking up until now, which was all about Irish language medium childcare and preschool education. That is absolutely vital and is a basic fundamental right for those who rear their children through Irish. Some parents also choose to send their children to an Irish-medium facility. However, I am talking about the wider sector. If we were to tell parents that we could give their children the present of contact of with a second language, which they will grasp naturally, for free, 85% or 90% of them would be delighted. Young children have no difficulty with this. They become very dextrous in languages when they are exposed to two languages. Why are we not thinking about the big picture, or thinking outside the box? We could give the greatest free present ever to our children, simply by encouraging the use of little sayings and rhymes. They are all there and the back-up is there. Having a programme which encourages crèches and childcare facilities to expose children to the Irish language as a second language will also help them learn other languages in the future. The vast majority of children, barring those with severe disabilities, will learn two languages as easily as one.

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