Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

I found myself agreeing with much of what the Minister said but she totally misrepresented the meaning of the Fine Gael policies. I do not think she can substantiate anything she has said about the removal of compulsion in the teaching of the Irish language leading to the demise of the language. It is nonsense.

Recently I met a friend of mine who is a fluent Irish speaker. He has a great love of Irish and has been involved in the Irish language movement for as long as I know him. When I saw him coming towards me I expected an ear bashing from him because of our policy on removing compulsion in the teaching of leaving certificate Irish. I was pleasantly surprised to hear him say that it was about time someone generated a decent debate on the Irish language, and that he believed that compulsion as a tool to revive the Irish language had failed miserably. He was also critical of friends of his who wanted to retain the status quo, knowing full well that the current system had failed the young — and not so young — in the past.

My interest in the subject was awakened by the enthusiasm of this man who relished the prospect of a debate on how to nurture and revive the Irish language. While I am in no way fluent in speaking Irish I understand it and enjoy hearing the language being spoken. I do not believe one is any less Irish by not being able to speak the Irish language but I admire people who can speak it fluently and who do not make people feel inferior or less Irish if they cannot speak it.

The Gaelscoileanna are doing a wonderful job and I salute them for the work they are doing. However, the facts of the matter are that a large percentage of young people leave school without any real command of the Irish language. The Minister has agreed with this point. Only three out of ten students attempt the higher level paper in the leaving certificate and, worse still, thousands of students do not even turn up for the exam each year. There is no doubt that we need reform in the approach to the teaching of the Irish language. I believe the vast majority of people who are active in the promotion of the language believe this to be the case also.

We must be willing to embrace change and to utilise the best available modern technology and teaching methods for the Irish language. We must also develop a specialised language support corps to help individual primary schools that have particular difficulty with the teaching of Irish. More importantly, we must concentrate on immersion in the Irish language for new and trainee teachers. Reference has been made to teachers and trainee teachers spending more time in the Gaeltacht refreshing and reviving their grasp of the language.

Above all, we must have a radical overhaul and change to focus on the teaching of Irish as a living language. A number of speakers have referred to this matter. We need a curriculum that is loaded with topics that are modern, relevant and, above all, useful. How many times do we hear young people say, "What good is Irish? How useful will it be to me when I leave school?" I hear it in my own house. Communicating in Irish must be seen as cool.

The Minister referred to Hector and Síle and all the rest of them. The teaching of Irish cannot be boring and dull, which it is in many cases at present. That is why I believe there should be a greater emphasis on the spoken language. There should be an oral component at junior certificate level and this must be introduced sooner rather than later.

Fine Gael believes that after the junior certificate all students should have a choice between two subjects. One subject would be based on communication in Irish and 50% of the marks would be devoted to spoken Irish with the rest of the curriculum focusing on useful and applicable reading and writing tasks in Irish. The second Irish subject on the curriculum would focus on literature and heritage for those with a deeper knowledge of and competence in the language. I have a great deal more to say but I am aware my time has run out.