Sir, – It’s not today or indeed yesterday we have read about the increasing numbers of secondary students seeking exemptions in Irish.
Why is the number far greater in this subject than in any of the other languages?
The answer is very simple.
It’s a mixture of both the prescribed material that has to be taught in the classroom coupled by an exam that is far more demanding and arduous on the student.
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The situation could very easily be reversed by bringing the Leaving Certificate exam in Irish into sync with French, German, Spanish and Italian whereby the emphasis is on the communicative aspects of the language as opposed to the heavy weighted paper on literature.
As a teacher of Leaving Cert Irish for the last 35 years, I acknowledge that there is a beauty and worthiness in both Irish poetry and prose but let those areas be examined as a separate subject in the same way as English is examined in The A Level system, ie English Language and English Literature.
A simple enough remedy to reverse the current demise. – Yours, etc,
CLARE GREALY,
Rathgar,
Dublin 6.
