Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I dtús báire, gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit, an Teachta Butler, as teacht anseo, cé nach bhfuil an t-ábhar seo ina Roinn féin. Táim an bhuíoch di go bhfuil sí anseo chun freagra a thabhairt dúinn. Baineann an cheist atá agam inniu leis an nGaeloideachas, go háirithe i mo cheantar féin i gCoill na Silíní. Is rud an-thábhachtach ar fad é an ceart atá ag daoine oideachas a fháil trí mheán na Gaeilge. Tá a fhios againn go bhfuil an-fhás tagtha ar Ghaelscoileanna ar fud na tíre le blianta anuas. Cé go bhfuil níos mó Gaelscoileanna ann, níl na Gaelcholáistí ann i roinnt ceantar sa tír do na leanaí atá ag dul ón mbunscoil go dtí an mheánscoil, go sonrach i gCoill na Silíní. In Cherrywood, in my own constituency, we have lots of Gaelscoileanna and lots of enthusiasm for Gaeloideachas among people who are availing of their right to be educated through Irish. However, they do not have places to go when they go to secondary school. Tá an t-ádh orainn go bhfuil dhá Ghaelcholáiste iontacha sa cheantar againn: Coláiste Íosagáin agus Coláiste Eoin. Tá an t-ádh orainn go bhfuil siad ann. Ag an am céanna, níl a dhóthain spásanna sna Gaelcholáistí do dhaltaí gach Gaelscoile chun freastal ar na Gaelcholáistí sin.

There is a problem with the way the Department manages the transition from primary school to secondary school, particularly when it is about Gaeloideachas . For example, the two Gaelcholáistí I have mentioned, Coláiste Íosagáin and Coláiste Eoin, do not necessarily take students from Gaelscoileanna first. In fact, parents tell me that in some instances they would be better off taking their child out of the local Gaelscoil - I am not referring to Scoil Lorcáin because it is a feeder school but to Gaelscoil Laighean, which used to be in Deansgrange and has now thankfully moved to a permanent site in Mount Anville - and putting them into a local English-language school to get access to the Gaelcholáistí in question. Ní féidir linn baint a bheith againn leis an mhéid sin.

Go háirithe agus go sonrach i gCoill na Silíní, tá suíomh ann. There is a site available in Cherrywood with planning permission on it for secondary school. I do not understand why the Department has not moved forward to identify what school is going to be built on that site. Everything is ready to go: there is a huge demand for a Gaelcholáiste in the area, there is a movement behind the idea that there would be a Gaelcholáiste, the permission is there and it is ready to be built. For some reason, there has been a delay in this process. Fiú go bhfuil daoine ann a bhfuil ag iarraidh Gaelcholáiste a bheith ar fáil dá bpáistí, níl an Gaelcholáiste ann.

In terms of the process for deciding the patronage of that school, it is very difficult to decide who should actually make that decision because na limistéir atá ar na ceantair oideachais, the educational catchment areas, are bizarre. It is very difficult to understand exactly where they begin and end because they do not follow any other area. There might be parents i gCoill na Silíní, Cherrywood, which is at the end of a Luas line. Parents who live right along the Luas line could very easily send their children to a secondary school in Cherrywood even though they live way outside the area.

Maidir leis an gceist sin ar phátrúnacht na nGaelcholáistí, ba cheart go mbeidh slí dhifriúil ann chun cinneadh a dhéanamh ar an gcineál pátrúnachta a bheadh ag an nGaelcholáiste sin. When we are dealing with a Gaelcholáiste, there has to be a different system for choosing how parents get to vote on whether that school is an Irish-language school. Mura ndéanfaidh an Roinn é sin, beidh fadhb ag na tuismitheoirí agus na páistí i mo cheantar féin mura bhfuil siad in ann dul go dtí Gaelcholáiste.