Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom freisin buíochas a ghabháil le Tom McGrath as ucht a chuid oibre agus a chuid seirbhíse anseo, agus gach dea-ghuí, gach rath agus fad saoil a ghuí air. Tá mé an-bhródúil ag seasamh anseo inniu chun comhghairdeas a dhéanamh le fear de bhunadh Chonamara - Máirtín Breathnach, nó Martin Walsh - atá tofa ina mhéara ar Bhostún tar éis feachtas an-dhian ach an-fhéaráilte. Ní raibh mórán barúil ar dtús go ndéanfadh sé an gaisce, ach tá sé déanta aige. Is mór an éacht é dó féin, dá chlann, dá chairde, dá ghaolta, do mhuintir Chonamara agus do mhuintir na hÉireann. I wish Tom McGrath all the best in his new life and thank him for all he has done for us.

I stand very proudly today to congratulate Martin Walsh, whose parents are both from Connemara, and who was elected mayor of Boston last night. It is a huge victory for him. He was the underdog at the beginning of the race and he came through in flying colours last night to take the mayoral seat. We wish him well there. It is a wonderful opportunity for him but it is also a great testament to the people of Connemara and the people of Ireland that somebody who has come from such a humble background and who worked hard in the labour movement has come to that office. What was significant was the amount of coverage given by Radio na Gaeltachta and TG4 to his campaign, and I commend them for that. He was also able to do a number of interviews as Gaeilge. Bhí sé ag labhairt as Gaeilge ar na meáin le linn an fheachtais.

I wonder how the mayor of Boston would fare if he was educated here at the moment or if his children were going to school here, because of the recent report inspectors have given us about the teaching of Irish in primary schools. Tá an-imní orm faoi seo. Léiríonn an tuairisc go bhfuil fadhb mór le múineadh na Gaeilge sna scoileanna agus sna bunscoileanna ach go háirithe. One of the biggest problems we are seeing is that we have many teachers who do not have the ability to teach Irish as Gaeilge in schools, so I would like to call for a debate on the Irish language in our schools. It is very important. We have been highlighting this as a crisis for quite a long time, and the inspectors' report backs up everything we have been saying. It would be important to have the Minister for Education and Skills in here to talk specifically about the teaching of Irish in schools.