Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 450: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the progress in regard to the commitment given in the programme for Government to provide a scholarship scheme for children from disadvantaged areas to attend courses in the Gaeltacht and funding for summer courses in the children's local areas. [18421/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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Both schemes to which the Deputy refers have been established and are running successfully.

With regard to the summer courses in Irish for primary school children in designated disadvantaged schools, these are referred to as Campaí Samhraidh. Children's command of Irish is improved through participation in a range of activities, including music, arts and crafts and games, conducted through the medium of Irish. The programmes are developed by teachers working to guidelines produced by the Department of Education and Science.

A grant of €5,420 is paid to each participating school to cover the project costs. In 2008, funding of €150,000 has been provided to cover the costs of training the teachers and project costs for participating schools.

The Gaeltacht Scholarship scheme has also been established. It is designed to enable children enrolled in designated disadvantaged post-primary schools to attend approved summer colleges for teaching Irish.

Funding of €100,000 has been made available for the scheme for 2008. Applications for the 2008 scheme are still being processed and, to date, approximately 100 have been received.