Patrick Nulty (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 94: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide an update on progress in implementing the Barcelona agreement on the teaching of modern languages; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22334/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Under the Barcelona Conclusions 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. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment is in the process of developing a language curriculum for infant classes which will inform future developments. The NCCA does not intend to compartmentalise children's language learning in terms of their experience with their first language (L1) and second language (L2) as is currently the case in the Primary School Curriculum. The language curriculum should provide a common structure for planning appropriate language experiences in all languages for all children in infant classes including those for whom English is an additional language. This is a new way of looking at language acquisition which will help children's learning in all languages taught at primary level and into the future at post-primary level.