Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ar dtús báire, is mian liom a rá gur dúirt duine éigin liom cúpla bliain ó shín go raibh níos mó daoine ag labhairt Gaeilge gach lá i mo Dháilcheantar féin ná in aon áit eile sa tír taobh amuigh den Ghaeltacht. Cé nach bhfuil a fhios agam an bhfuil sé sin fíor nó nach bhfuil, níl ach dhá Ghaelscoil i nDáilcheantar Dhún Laoghaire, is iad sin Scoil Lorcáin i mBaile na Manach – an “OG” mar a deirtear – a bunaíodh i 1972, agus Gaelscoil Phadraig i mBaile Breac. We had Gaelscoil Laighean in Deansgrange but it has been moved to a new site in Dublin Rathdown, with which we were delighted to facilitate it. Gaelscoil Phádraig, which is very much the smaller of the two Gaelscoileanna, is in Ballybrack. It serves a small community and is a small school. It has been waiting for a long number of years for a permanent site. I have been in the school and have been involved in activities with it. It is located in prefabs in a housing estate in Ballybrack, which is far from ideal. The school cannot grow and is constrained by the existing buildings. It has a new site in that a place has been identified in Ballyowen Meadows, where the school will move eventually, although we are probably talking about years. The biggest problem the school has is that no survey has taken place identifying what exactly will be built at Ballyowen Meadows, when it will be built and what it will include. As far as I know, it does not include a halla, for example. Any school looking forward to its future needs to have certainty about what is going to be in place because this allows it to plan for enrolment numbers, the types of pupils, the needs of pupils and so on.

We could have a debate in this House on Gaelscoileanna and Gaeloideachas in general. There is another problem in my area around Cherrywood and the Gaelcholáiste that should be located there. When schools are chosen, the electorate, if you like, or the people surveyed, come from a much wider area than the narrow geographical area concerned. I call on the Minister to address the problem of Gaeloideachas and put in place facilities to ensure it is given priority. Where things are actually moving along, as in the case of Gaelscoil Phádraig, surveys should be done in a timely fashion, as requested, to allow schools to plan. The more they can plan, the better the schools built and the better they will serve the wider community, particularly those who want education trí mheán na Gaeilge.