Keith Swanick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. Tá mé sásta cúpla focal a rá faoi scéim na gcúntóirí teanga agus tá cúpla ceisteanna simplí agam faoin scéim.

As the Minister of State will know from recent parliamentary questions submitted by my colleague, Deputy Dara Calleary, this is an issue which is affecting primary schools in Gaeltacht areas. It is my understanding that the objective of the cúntóirí teanga scheme is to reinforce Irish as a spoken language among young people in the Gaeltacht. Schools have been fortunate to have the opportunity to have native Irish speakers visit on a daily basis to give their expertise in spoken Irish to the children. Many of the schools feel that this is a vital cog in their wheels. Two organisations, Muintearas Teoranta and Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne Teoranta, manage the scheme on behalf of the Department and deliver it, for the most part, through the network of Gaeltacht primary schools.

The school about which I have been contacted is scoil náisiúnta Dubh Thuama in Erris. This school has availed of the cúntóirí teanga scheme in the past and is very eager to have it reinstated in the school. Last June the school signed up to the new Department of Education and Skills policy for Gaeltacht schools, that all subjects would continue to be taught through Irish and would continue to be adhered to in the junior classrooms. In other words, junior and senior infant classes would be immersed fully in the Irish language.

Unfortunately, when September allocations came around scoil náisiúnta Dubh Thuama was not included in the scheme and the school has not been briefed on why it was not chosen. Following on from a response to a parliamentary question issued to Deputy Dara Calleary, it is clear that an allocation of €551,830 was made in order to facilitate the provision of the scheme to the same schools that participated in the scheme in 2016-17. I find it hard to understand, as does the school in question, why the schools from the 2016-17 scheme were automatically returned to the 2017-18 scheme and no other applications were accepted. The school is also very confused by the fact that three out of the seven schools that also signed up to the new Department of Education and Skills policy for Gaeltacht schools were not allocated funding from the cúntóirí teanga scheme while schools that have not signed up to the policy have been given allocations.

I ask the Minister of State to clarify the qualifying criteria for the provision of a language assistant as part of the cúntóirí teanga scheme.