The organisation charged with co-ordinating State policy on the Irish language has expressed dismay at the announcement that most secondary school teachers will no longer be required to pass an Irish language test. The Minister for Education, Mr Martin, said yesterday that second-level teachers who do not have to use Irish in their everyday work will not now have to pass an oral exam in the language. Teachers in Gaeltacht and Irish language schools and those who actually teach the language will now be the only ones required to be proficient in the State's first language.
Bord na Gaeilge, the statutory semi-state body which "seeks to ensure the survival of Irish as a spoken language throughout the country", said it was "dismayed at the change". A statement from the board said the Irish requirement was designed "to ensure the necessary language conditions appropriate for teachers in an Irish bilingual State, in accordance with the status of Irish in the Constitution". Mr Martin, himself a fluent Irish speaker and former teacher, said the Irish language requirement for secondary school teachers, which has existed since the 1920s, was "unduly negative and counterproductive".
Removing the blanket requirement would "facilitate the mobility of teachers between the Republic and Northern Ireland" and would benefit the standing of Irish in schools, he added.
One in nine teachers and trainee teachers who sat the Ceard Teastas Gaeilge examination in the 12 months to February of this year failed. It caused particular difficulty for teachers moving to Ireland from foreign jurisdictions, and teachers from Northern Ireland who had been educated in state schools there.
The Teachers Union of Ireland called Mr Martin's move "eminently sensible and realistic".
Irish remains a requirement for primary school teachers. A spokesman for the Department said last night that it would be more problematic to remove this requirement. Senator Joe O'Toole of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation said the Minister should nevertheless consider easing the standard of Irish required of primary teachers trained in Northern Ireland.
