Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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809. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide an update on the way the national anthem is taught in primary and secondary schools; and any frameworks or guidelines which have been issued to schools by her Department indicating the way the national anthem should be integrated into the curriculum. [20015/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Our primary syllabus in Social, Personal and Health Education requires that each pupil becomes aware of his/her own culture and includes the national flag and anthem among the areas identified. It remains open to any school to encourage its students to learn and sing the anthem, at school events or otherwise.

It is not Departmental policy to impose regulations on schools regarding national expression, so there are no directives or guidelines on the use of the anthem beyond that identified in primary SPHE. This is consistent with government practice in most countries today.

In Ireland, schools are free to incorporate the learning of the anthem within their curricular provision, such as in music or singing lessons, and a number of initiatives in this regard have been given Departmental support. These include the distribution of a CD of the National Children's Choir signing our national anthem to every school some years ago, and the Taoiseach's launch of the Gael Linn 'Gaelbhratach' initiative earlier in 2015. This latter idea promotes the teaching of the national anthem from third class onwards, as part of an overall school approach to the use of Irish in communication.