Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 53: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason, at a time when Ireland is preparing to take over the Presidency of the EU in January 2013, should we not honour our European obligations under the Lisbon Strategy and the Barcelona Agreement by affording children an opportunity to learn additional modern European languages, as is the case in every other member state of the EU. [10022/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The Barcelona Conclusions are non-binding and express the views and intentions of the European Council. Individual member states are invited to adopt the approaches set out in the Conclusions insofar as is appropriate to their particular national priorities, circumstances and resources. My Department fully accepts the desirability of this approach as an EU policy direction. This does not mean however that it is necessarily practicable in every Member state. In Ireland, where there are two national languages, Irish and English, given recognition under the Constitution, both of these languages are taught at primary level.