Frustration voiced over Dublin Gaelcholáiste at student protest

Some 200 students from five Irish-medium primary schools in south Dublin attended a protest at Dáil Éireann on Wednesday to call on Minister for Education Norma Foley to establish a new Gaelcholáiste in their school planning area.

Teachers and parents of pupils attending Scoil Bhríde, Gaelscoil Lios na nÓg, Scoil Mológa, Bunscoil Synge (Sancta Maria) and Gaelscoil Eoin expressed frustration that there is no post-primary school operating through Irish in the locality.

The campaign for an Irish language secondary school in the Dublin 2, 4, 6 and 8 area has been under way for some years.

Cormac Chambers, príomhoide at Gaelscoil Lios na nÓg, said “there is definitely a certain level of frustration among parents and teachers that no decision has been made yet”.

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Parents and teachers have warned that almost 130 sixth-class students currently in their final year at primary school in the area will leave sixth class next summer unable to continue their education through Irish.

“We’ve got five Gaelscoileanna in the area and we don’t have a school to ensure the children can continue their education through Irish,” Mr Chambers said.

“We are calling on Norma Foley to make a decision and provide a Gaelcholáiste for the people of the area and particularly to the children who are invested in the language,” he added.

Rathfarnham school

He said a suggestion by the Department of Education that students attend a school in Rathfarnham “doesn’t make any sense”.

“The excuse is always the same that Gaelcholáiste an Phiarsaigh is the answer. When you dig down into that answer it doesn’t make any sense – it would mean parents having to get into the car every morning to drive outside of the area in which they are living.

“That doesn’t bode well in terms of the carbon footprint but also on a social level it’s not great for children to be travelling outside the area in which they live,” he said.

Caoimhín Ó hEaghra, general secretary of an Foras Pátrúnachta which is the largest patron of Irish-medium schools, said: “The reason for the urgency for a second-level Irish-medium school in this area of Dublin is that there are 44 second-level English-medium schools and no Irish-medium school in that area.

“There are 1,000 pupils coming out of Irish-medium primary schools who have no option in their area to proceed with Irish-medium education.

“When we consider that the development of a policy on Irish-medium education has begun and the Department of Education is consulting with communities, this is an expression from the children in this area that they want to continue to pursue Irish-medium education.”

Local Fianna Fáil TD Jim O’Callaghan, who also attended the protest, said he believed there was sufficient demand for a new Irish-medium secondary school and said there was a need to “positively discriminate” in favour of the Irish language.

“I’ve met the parents and I’ve met the teachers from the Gaelscoileanna in my Dáil cheantar. There is a lot of interest and demand for a secondary Irish school. They want to go to a school that’s in their vicinity, there is certainly a demand for it,” he said.

“We need to positively discriminate in favour of education through the Irish language. It is the national language.”

‘Really upset’

“If you look at whether a new school is needed, you might say that demographically there isn’t. But when you look at the interest in the language and if we are serious about it, I think we do need to start establishing more secondary Irish schools,” he said.

Parent Emma Querney said her daughter Kitty, who is in junior infants at Gaelscoil Eoin, enjoys learning through Irish. She said she was “really upset” at the prospect of children leaving primary having no other option but to discontinue their learning through Irish.

“She’s only there a couple of months and she’s picked up so much already. I thought it would take her six to 12 months before she would start using it at home but she’s already saying a lot of words at home within just a couple of months. She puts on her geansaí every morning and is speaking it herself, she loves it.”

“There are 44 English-language schools in this area and zero gaelcholáistí. The children literally don’t have anywhere to go. They’ll have to travel outside the area or not continue on learning through Irish.

“I think it is really important to be able to continue on with Irish after learning it. To lose it at such a young age is just a tragedy.”

Independent TD Catherine Connolly, who sits on the Oireachtas committee on the Irish language, said the provision of Irish language education was important “on so many levels”.

“In my experience on the Irish language committee, the demand for education through Irish for secondary schools is growing and growing,” she said.

“They have to give recognition that Irish is our official first language, uimhir a haon, agus uimhir a dó, there is such a demand for education through Irish and I don’t think the system as it stands allows for that recognition.”

A Department of Education spokesperson said Gaelcholáiste an Phiarsaigh in the Ballinteer/Stepaside school planning area “has capacity to accommodate additional students”.

The spokesperson said the department was keeping the position “under active review as these schools grow and the number of sixth-class pupils in gaelscoileanna increases”.