Donna McGettigan (Clare, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta Ó Snodaigh for bringing forward this motion agus also buíochas le conversational Irish classes Gaeilge le Chéile i mBaile na Sionnainne so tá cúpla focal agam anois.

I raise the issues of school recognition and school transport. Gaelcholáiste an Chláir in Ennis has been struggling to be recognised as a stand-alone school rather than being part of Ennis Community College. The Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board is in ongoing discussions with the Department of Education to gain recognition. I hope we can rely on the Minister of State to assist the school in any way possible to enable its independence. This lack of recognition flies in the face of the right of our children to be educated through Irish.

Gaelcholáiste an Chláir is the only available Irish-medium secondary school in Clare for pupils throughout the county. The Department should be doing all it can to promote the development of more schools to ensure that all those who wish to avail of education in Irish can access one within reasonable access of their home. Níl sé seo ceart.

This brings me to my other issue. The lack of recognition also impacts on the provision of school transport for pupils. Pupils living outside of Ennis are not provided with school transport to the school since it is not recognised. They can only avail of transport to their local school but that would mean an English-medium school. As a result, I have heard of pupils who are reliant on public transport, which, as we all know, leaves a lot to be desired, plus there is an added cost to parents, and pupils are regularly late for classes and are very lucky that the school is willing to be understanding of this. Níl sé seo cóir. Can the Minister give us any reassurance that he will intervene to speed up the recognition process and thereby ensure pupils can access the Gaelcholáiste using school transport?

Tá áiteanna i gContae an Chláir a bhí mar Ghaeltachtaí ní i bhfad ó shin agus ba mhaith linn é sin a fheiscint arís. Faoi láthair, níl polasaí an Rialtais ceart nó cóir, agus, thar aon rud eile, níl sé cothrom. Tá an Rialtas ag cur bac ar athbheochan na Gaeilge.

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