Madam, - In response to Sarah Carey's column of December 24th, I should like to make the following points.
My two sons were educated in the local Gaeilscoil in Bray, Co Wicklow, and as a result they both have very good conversational Irish. I am certain this would not be the case had they attended an English-speaking national school.
Furthermore, both my sons grew up with a deep appreciation of all aspects of Irish culture.
In response to Ms Carey's assertion that you won't find "too many immigrants and local ruffians at the Gaeilscoil", I should point out that a number of immigrant children attended Gaeilscoil Uí Chéadaigh in Bray, with children coming from a cross-section of homes in the North Wicklow region. A high proportion of children were from local working- lass families, the "hewers of wood" and the "drawers of water", what Ms Carey might term the "ruffian" element. For some reason, I never encountered the sons and daughters of doctors or solicitors or even local business people in our Gaeilscoil.
In the three years I spent on the school's Coiste na dTuismitheoirí, I came to know of other similar schools elsewhere, including Gaeilscoil Phádraig, Ballybrack, Gaeilscoil Barra, Cabra and Scoil an tSeachtar Laoch, Ballymun. In all these schools, the majority of children also came from working-class backgrounds, with a sprinkling of immigrants, obviously intent on sinking deep roots in this country and sharing in our cultural heritage.
The reason so many Gaeilscoileanna have been springing up around the country in the past 20 years is the disastrous state into which the Irish language has fallen in many national schools. Parents can see that children who attend Gaeilscoileanna often emerge with a self-confidence and an esprit de corps, having grown up with a love and appreciation of Irish culture, rather than living in some vague mid-Atlantic milieu where some blog-journalists appear to reside. - Is mise,
PÁDRAIG DE BÚRCA,
Árdán An Gabha Bhuí,
Brí Chualann,
Co Cill Mhantáin.