Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister.

I congratulate my colleague, Senator Conway, on introducing this motion. We should think back to the celebrations that we have had in 2016 commemorating the events of 1916. The many organisations that organised events both for our young and our not so young have been outstanding. It has been a way of highlighting our history. It is something that is very much to the forefront at the moment as we are not finished with our celebrations.

Looking at our history, the city charter for Limerick, where I am from, is older than the charter for the city of London. Ireland as a small country has so much history we can discuss. Tourists travel to Ireland from around the globe to see what we have on offer. They have come to look at the General Post Office, to visit our ancient structures and our castles and to take walking tours. The country has much to contribute. When I went to school I studied history up to my leaving certificate. It is a subject that is very close to my own heart.

A history competition under the aegis of the Department of Education and Skills is encouraging individuals or groups from both primary school and secondary schools to participate. It is an all-Ireland competition and covers topics such as the revolutionary period, including the role of women, and Ireland's role in the First World War. This is to be commended. The more of these projects and competitions we can encourage students to get involved in will help to instil a love of history in them. We should look at doing more of this into the future.

We cannot let the 1916 celebrations dissipate. They must be built on. We created a legacy over the last 12 months. There was cross-party and cross-county support for the celebrations. That is be welcomed, acknowledged and taken into account in terms of the future development of history as a subject.

History is one of the subjects being looked at in the junior cycle reform programme. As a subject it provides students with a necessary introduction to analysing historical events and equips them with the knowledge of the work of the historian, how to identify sources and how to recognise bias. Students learn about ancient civilisations, the Renaissance, family lifestyles in the past, and the plantation of Northern Ireland. These are just a few of the topics that are on the history syllabus.

Senator Conway has pointed out that the number of students taking history has increased in the period from 2006 to 2016. I am not sure if the 1916 celebrations played a role in that regard. History is not a compulsory subject but interest in it is fed by the many historical associations which operate outside of the education system. They run lectures and so on in the universities, educational institutes and the public libraries. There should be greater encouragement of that. For example, engaging with students by bringing them to libraries for history lectures would help.

I support the motion put forward by my colleague, Senator Conway. I call on the Minister to consider any additional ways of supporting the promotion of the subject of history, to encourage successful learning objectives and to outline the approach of the history development group.