Schoolchildren from five Gaelscoileanna in the Dublin area are calling for the establishment of an Irish-language secondary school or Gaelcholáiste to cater for their transition from primary education.
Parents and teachers of teachers attending Scoil Bhríde; Gaelscoil Lios na nÓg; Bunscoil Synge; Gaelscoil Eoin and Gaelscoil Inse Chór, gathered at the gates of Leinster House on Wednesday to argue their case for a Gaelcholáiste to serve the Dublin 2, 4, 6 and 8 areas.
Despite having a population of 200,000 people the Dublin 2, 4, 6 and 8 areas have no Irish medium secondary school. Parents pointed out that Tralee, with a population of some 23,000 people, recently saw the opening of a new purpose-built building for their second-level Irish medium school.
‘Uncertainty’
Cormac Chambers, príomhoide at Ranelagh’s Gaelscoil Lios na nÓg, said existing Gaelcholáistí in the Dublin area are “oversubscribed.” He said the absence of Irish medium provision at second level for the schools in the area “creates uncertainty for the children and around where they will go to secondary school”.
“There is an Irish language secondary school in Rathfarnham which is completely impractical for the kids living in Dublin 2, 4, 6 and 8,” he said.
Mr Chambers said the provision of a new Irish-medium secondary school would also provide valuable support for the work that Gaelscoileanna are already doing.
“We put a huge amount of time and effort and financial investment into the children also to ensure that they have the scaffold of the culture and the history around the language. If they have to go to an English language secondary school they would lose a lot of what they picked up at primary level, and that is unfair on the children who want to continue with that Irish language education,” he said.
Karen Hinkson Deeney, whose children Sophia (9) and Natalia Denise (7) attend two different Gaelscoileanna, said the provision of a Gaelcholáiste “is incredibly important”.
“It’s their national language. For them to be able to socialise and learn and grow through it is very important,” she said.
“It needs to be established. We have all our Gaelscoileanna here but we have no Gaelcholáiste. Another thing that is quite important for the Minister [for Education Norma Foley] to consider is that what is being asked for here is a co-ed multi-denominational Gaelcholáiste. It is entirely in keeping with what parents want in contemporary Ireland. It is inclusive, it is promoting diversity and cultural exchange. It is necessary,” she said.
“My husband and I are not Irish speakers. We try our best and we need the support of a school community. When we are working on our Irish ourselves and when our children are trying to learn and grow and express themselves through Irish the school community is of massive importance. We are very lucky that the Gaelscoileanna are fantastic but to cut [Irish-medium education] off at the age of 12 is just heartbreaking.
“Bilingualism is hugely important for both their academic learning but also their social and cultural understanding that different languages exist and interacting through them is normal and should be encouraged,” she said.
‘Tedious’
Ben Ó Conchubhar (12) from Gaelscoil Lios na nÓg, said: “We don’t have any Irish [secondary] schools in our area and it’s just not good enough. We have 44 English [language] schools and we need an Irish school, but we don’t have a single one.”
Dara Ó Dúgáin (13) from Gaelscoil Lios na nÓg, said: “It’s very important to me because it’s our language and it’s good to know where we come from.”
The provision of a secondary school was important as he would have to relearn everything if he had to discontinue learning through Irish.
“I believe it is important. Otherwise, I would have to relearn everything and that would be tedious,” he said.
Mr Chambers also cautioned that the State’s goal of having 20 per cent of public service recruits proficient in Irish by 2030 would not be met if the right educational infrastructure is not in place.
“If the Government is planning to meet those targets it will need to provide more Irish-medium secondary schools,” he said.
“The campaign has received huge support from parents in our own school and has gathered pace. We recently had a meeting Norma Foley and compelling arguments were made to her and she did say that it was something that she would consider,” he said.
‘Expansion’
A Department of Education spokesperson said while “it is expected” that the Gaelcholáistí in the general South Dublin area “between them have sufficient school places to accommodate demand in the short term”, the department is keeping the position “under active review” as the number of sixth-class pupils in new Gaelscoileanna which have opened in recent years increases.
Gaelcholáiste an Phiarsaigh in the Ballinteer-Stepaside school planning area “has capacity to accommodate additional students” and the department has written to the school patron of Coláiste Eoin and Coláiste Íosagáin in Booterstown, Co Dublin, regarding “opportunities for expansion of provision”.
The department added that the second phase of a consultation process is under way as part of the development of the new policy on Irish-medium education outside of the Gaeltacht.
