Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 1764: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of exemptions given to students in the junior and leaving certificate sitting Irish examinations for the past five years; the origin of these students, if not Irish; the other exemptions the same students were given during the same years; if these students studied French, Spanish, German or other languages; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30902/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The statistical data requested by the Deputy is contained in the following document. These figures refer to all candidates who entered for Leaving Certificate and Junior Certificate in each of the years 2004 to 2008. The Leaving Certificate figures include school based candidates, external candidates and repeat candidates. The Junior Certificate figures include school based candidates and repeat candidates. The data is gathered through the Post-Primary Database returns from schools each October.

Exemptions from learning Irish are granted in accordance with the provisions of Circular M10/94, including:

students whose primary education up to 11 years of age was received in Northern Ireland or outside Ireland

students who were previously enrolled as recognised students in a primary school or post-primary school who are being re-enrolled after a period spent abroad, provided that at least 3 years have elapsed since the previous enrolment in the State and the student is at least 11 years of age on re-enrolment, and

certain categories of students with special educational needs.

The scheme devolves decision making to school authorities who are required to operate strictly within the criteria. The figures therefore refer to the exemption from the study of Irish in a recognised school and not to the examination itself. The figures provided for exemptions refer, in each year, to the number of Leaving Certificate and Junior Certificate candidates from recognised schools who had an exemption from the study of Irish.

The post-primary data includes information on each student's "country of origin". This data is derived from the answers given by parents to the school authorities when enrolling their children. The country of origin field on the database defaults to "Ireland" unless otherwise indicated in the returns submitted by schools.

In compiling these data, the languages referred to in the attached tables are the modern languages French, Spanish, German and Italian. It should be noted that the data records the number of students studying each modern language and not the numbers studying a modern language.

The choice of subjects for post-primary students, including those for students with an exemption from the study of Irish, is a matter for the student and his or her parents in consultation with the school Principal in the context of the students overall educational needs and in accordance with policies and procedures obtaining in the school. In that context, students cannot ordinarily qualify for exemptions from modern languages except those students following the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme and then only subject to consideration by the inspectorate. Data on students which qualify for this exemption are not readily available and are not recorded on the Post-Primary Pupil Database.