Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 92: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if there are supports for non-Irish nationals in the Gaeltacht and elsewhere here if they choose to learn the Irish language; and if not, if she intends to introduce such supports. [25806/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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My Department provides additional teaching resources to schools, both in the Gaeltacht and elsewhere, where the medium of instruction is Irish.

Under current arrangements, the enrolment figures required for both the appointment and retention of a mainstream class teacher in a Gaelscoil and for the retention of a mainstream class teacher in a national school in the Gaeltacht are lower that those which apply in the case of ordinary national schools in the case of posts up to and including the 12th mainstream teacher.

At post primary level, my Department allocates an additional teaching post to each designated all-Irish school. The additional teaching resources are provided to cater for all pupils enrolled in the schools concerned, irrespective of nationality. The question of providing additional resources to these schools will be considered in the context of improvements in the staffing position of primary and second level schools generally.