Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim ar dtús mo fhíorchomhghairdeas leis an Leas-Cheannaire agus leas-cheannaire Fhine Gael, an Seanadóir Seán Kyne. Ba mhaith liom a rá go soiléir go bhfuilimid thar a bheith sásta dó go mbeidh sé sa phost sin. We know he will do a good job and look forward to the final few months of this Seanad.

I raise an issue that relates to Gaeloideachas. A group was here yesterday, who I unfortunately did not have a chance to meet because I had another group of visitors. There must be a right to education through Irish. We have come quite a distance with making the facility available through bunscoileanna and Gaelscoileanna. A new school opened in my area in recent years, Gaelscoil Laighean, initially in Deansgrange and then we found a permanent site for it in Mount Anville. That is to be welcomed. However, within the next few years, the children in that school will go on to secondary school and at the moment the options for them are limited. We are lucky to have two excellent Gaelcholáistí i mo cheantar, i nDún Laoghaire, Coláiste Eoin agus Coláiste Íosagáin agus tá dalta ó Choláiste Íosagáin anseo liom, Hanako O'Donnell, atá ag obair liom i rith an tsamhraidh. Tá siad ann, but there is limited capacity in those schools to accommodate people graduating from Gaelscoileanna. We need more Gaelcholáistí.

Cherrywood is an example of a new development in the Dún Laoghaire area, a planned town with parks, businesses and accommodation and residential areas. It is a fantastic development and has two sites for secondary schools, one of which has full planning permission. For some reason, the Department of Education has not moved forward the patronage process to allow people to decide what type of school will go there. It is ready to go. There is a fíorghá le Gaelcholáiste sa cheantar sin ach níl aon rud ag tarlú laistigh den Roinn. Caithfidh muid rud éigin a dhéanamh faoi agus táim chun Ní i dTosach Suíonna a chur síos faoi, b’fhéidir an seachtain seo chugainn. Is ceist an-tábhachtach í do dhaoine atá ina gcónaí i gCoill na Silíní nó sa cheantar sin.