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

The Department keeps quoting this figure of 47. What I am trying to find out is how many of those schools were Gaelscoileanna or Gaelcholáistí. That is the first point, and it is specific because some people, including myself, got fooled when the figure of 47 was mentioned because they were all Gaelscoileanna and Gaelcholáistí. I do not think they were, however.

The second question is about whether any study has been done on the linguistic effectiveness of the aonad versus the Gaelcholáiste and whether they deliver what the parents desire them to, that is, an Irish-speaking school community. If it has not been done, would the Minister commission a study on the effectiveness?

There is a third part to the question, if the Chair gives me a little bit of indulgence. Do I understand that aonaid are only set up at the request of a school and not at the request of parents or parents who are not in the school? In other words, it would be the existing school population, including the school and parents of the children there, but not other people in the community who might like Irish-language education.

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