A chara, - I see that Louise Holden has taken up the cudgels to banish Irish from the primary school curriculum (Education Today, October 14th).
Given that the teaching of Irish at primary level enjoys overwhelming public support, her line of attack seems to be to champion clogging our primary schools with unqualified teachers who cannot speak, and therefore cannot teach, the language.
If a child's teacher cannot speak nor teach Irish, then the net result is that the child is not taught Irish.
Ms Holden's article betrays an unfounded (but sadly common) prejudice that languages in general - and Irish in particular - are unlearnable; a prejudice that would be engendered in pupils taught by a teacher without competence in Irish.
In other modern northern European countries, people are versed in their national language, the international language - English - and quite often a third language. Our collective failure in this regard seems to be due to attitude rather than lack of aptitude.
Undermining the teaching of Irish at primary level (as opposed to continuously assessing and seeking to improve it) would be a retrograde step impoverishing pupils' appreciation of their universal human heritage, not to mention their academic development. - Is mise,
DÁITHÍ MAC CÁRTHAIGH,
An Leabharlann Dlí,
Baile Átha Cliath 7.