Tús curtha leis an bpróiseas clárúcháin i nGaelcholáiste an Phiarsaigh
Márta 19, 2013
Cuireadh tús leis an bpróiseas clárúcháin do Ghaelcholáiste nua, a osclófar i nDún Droma i mBaile Átha Cliath in 2014.
Bhailigh slua mór le chéile i mBaile na Lobhar chun an t-eolas is déanaí faoi Ghaelcholáiste an Phiarsaigh a chloisteáil. Tá An Foras Pátrúnachta ina phatrún ar an nGaelcholáiste nua. Freastalóidh an scoil, a bhfuil éiteas ilchreidmheach aici, ar an éileamh mór atá ar iarbhunscoileanna lán-Ghaeilge i ndeisceart Bhaile Átha Cliath.
Dar le Caoimhín Ó hEaghra, Ard Rúnaí ar an bhForas Pátrúnachta, tá an Foras Pátrúnachta agus an Roinn Oideachais ag obair le chéile faoi láthair chun suíomh sealadach agus suíomh buan a aimsiú don scoil.
Dúirt Cathaoirleach an ghrúpa bunaithe, Lorcán Mac Gabhann, go bhfuil siad ag súil go mbeidh an scoil in ann freastal ar an éileamh sa cheantar d’oideachas lán-Ghaeilge.
Tá an fhoirm chlárúcháin chomh maith leis an bpolasaí iontrála ar fáil ar an suíomh idirlín www.gaelcholaiste.com
All this talk about Irish is rubbish
Márta 19, 2013
The view in your editorial (Throwing good money after bad? Mar 13) is built on the supposed fact “that we spend something around €1bn a year just teaching
Irish.” This figure is rubbish.
What’s the annual budget for the Department of Education and how could it be claimed that the teaching of Irish could account for such a high proportion of it?
It is absurd to suggest that €1bn a year could be saved from the education budget by scrapping Irish. The writer assumes that the policy of the State has been a failure. On the contrary, and given the incompetence of many of those charged with responsibility, the policy has been remarkably successful.
Most Irish people are sympathetic to the language and 1.5m of them claim competence in it. I agree, it’s a poor reflection on the education system if some people don’t know a ‘capall’ from a ‘bó’ or ‘bainne’ from ‘tae’. With TG4, new social media, etc, Irish has a greater presence in the public space than ever before. It also has a greater capacity to attract and mould a new language community.
If Irish is to have a future, it will be as a second language, of choice (teanga roghnaithe), for citizens who want to use it. In the David and Goliath context, in which Irish struggles to survive, there is little or no public understanding of the concept of a second language of choice. The attitude is ‘why would you use Irish when everyone speaks English, and you have perfect English yourself?’
This was the underlying attitude in the case in the annual report of An Coimisinéir Teanga — of the Garda who arrested the young man who wanted to conduct his business through Irish. The constitutional position of Irish notwithstanding, historically there has never been much acceptance among the public for the linguistic rights of the Irish-speaking minority, be they native speakers or speakers by choice.
Paradoxically, as Irish retreats in the Gaeltacht, and as its wider public profile increases (thanks mainly to TG4), there are indications that a more positive attitude is beginning to emerge. The Government needs to build on this. Most of all, government policy needs to be focused on making it possible for people to use Irish in the public domain.
In fairness, this was the thinking behind the Oireachtas’s unanimous passing of the Official Languages Act, 10 years ago. As usual, the sentiment was correct, but the practical steps needed to make it happen have so far been lacking.
Seán Mag Leannáin
Bánóg Rua,
Cillín Chaoimhín,
Co Chill Mhantáin
www.irishexaminer.com
State must support Irish language
Márta 19, 2013
B’fhearr liom an litir seo a scríobh i nGaeilge. I would prefer to write this letter in Irish, but I know how important it is to reach out to English speakers to explain why the Irish State cannot be neutral about the Irish language.
Your newspaper’s editorial (Mar 13) regarding the Irish language asked if, in difficult economic times, Ireland could afford to pay for the Irish language. Languages gain strength by being used by a state. If the Irish State does not support and use the Irish language, which state will? Slovenia? Botswana? Argentina?
Irish is unique to Ireland so the Irish State is the only one that can support it. If anyone needed proof of how a state strengthens a language, all that needs to be done is to imagine if English was not an official language in Ireland. Imagine if English was not taught in schools, used in Government departments, broadcast on televisions and radios, used in courts or used for public notices and contracts, etc.
The real questions that should be asked is why the Irish State took so long from 1922 to 2003 to lay down in law the rights Irish speakers have and the requirements for the State to provide services for Irish speakers? In that period the Gaeltachtaí declined considerably.
Why is it acceptable for English speakers to be unable to speak Irish, but it is unacceptable for Irish speakers to be unable to speak English? Monoglot Irish speakers don’t exist anymore, but if a parent insisted to the Department of Education that they did not want their children to learn English, they would not be allowed to do that, but it is acceptable for parents to not want their children to learn Irish.
Another editorial enquiring why the State does not want to make Irish the vernacular language would be most welcome. Táim ag tnúth go mór leis. (I look forward to reading it.)
Seanán Ó Coistín
Bonnevoie
Luxembourg
www.irishexaminer.com
So many quangos, so little Irish
Márta 19, 2013
Millions of euro flow into a range of Irish-language educational quangos. But with few people having little more than cúpla focail, it’s time to question the strategy
In July 2007, the Harris Report indicated that less than one third of pupils from English-medium schools achieved mastery of the Irish language between 1985 and 2002. The report also found the confidence of teachers to speak Irish declined significantly, with almost a quarter indicating their own standard of Irish was “weak”.
In our schools, there are serious questions about how effective Irish-language policies have been, with many school leavers still unable to speak more than a cúpla focal within a few years of the Leaving Cert. Last week, it emerged some gardaí are unable to ask basic questions in Irish, despite having studied it in school and at the Garda College in Templemore.
Is the taxpayer getting value for money? Have the myriad Irish language quangos achieved anything? And what is the future of the language, a slow death or a miraculous revival?
In 2010, the Fianna Fáil-led government published the 20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language. The document was rich in promises and expensive aspiration. Three years later, Foras na Gaeilge, the all-island body for the promotion and development of the Irish language, which also channels public funding to 19 Irish-language organisations, considers publication of the strategy a major result in itself.
Progress on the strategy has been slow. Several key parts have been axed. A planned Irish-language education resource centre in Baile Bhúirne, Co Cork, will not now happen. An Comhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta (COGG), which provides Irish-language resources to schools, has been downgraded: the opposite of what was promised in the strategy. Promised financial support for trainee teachers to attend the Gaeltacht has not materialised and a scholarship scheme for disadvantaged students to attend the Gaeltacht has also evaporated.
However, many other educational parts of the strategy are being implemented, in part at least, including the development of third-level programmes at NUI Galway and Dublin City University.
There is significant duplication of resources between many publicly-funded Irish language organisations. Cumann na bhFiann, Ógras, and Údarás na Gaeltachta all organise Irish-language youth clubs. Gaelchultúr, Conradh na Gaeilge and Gael Linn all arrange Irish classes for adults outside the Gaeltacht, while six other organisations operate Gaeltacht-based Irish-language courses. Conradh na Gaeilge and Gaelscoileanna Teo both play a role in establishing Irish-medium schools.
COGG, Gael Linn, and Foras na Gaeilge all produce educational materials for Irish medium schools on the island of Ireland, although COGG produces the vast majority. In Northern Ireland, An tAoisanaid, which receives the majority of its funding from the State through Foras na Gaeilge, provides these resources for its Irish-language school curricula. A further unit within Foras, Clar na Leabhar Gaeilge, publishes occasional Irish-language books for a general readership.
Duplication of resources
The Irish language sector also has significant and powerful representation, with Conradh na Gaeilge, Comhluadar, Comhar na Múinteoirí Gaeilge, and Gaelscoileanna Teo, all of which are publicly funded, among the organisations with have a lobbying and advocacy role.
In the face of opposition from many of the public bodies funded through Foras, amalgamations of these quangos have been slow. While much public money has been invested in Irish-language educational initiatives at all levels, in contrast, modern European languages were completely axed from the primary-school curriculum in 2011.
Major technology companies such as eBay, Facebook, and Google are hiring staff from France, Spain, Germany, and Italy due to the lack of qualified European-language graduates from within Ireland. There is no corresponding level of public investment in European languages that comes remotely close to that spent on Irish. There have always been serious questions about the effectiveness of Irish-language policies in education.
The 1966 Fianna Fáil government, led by Seán Lemass, made a series of pledges to support the language and increase bilingualism. A three-year action plan for the Irish language was published in 1983 during a Fine Gael/Labour government. Then, as with the latest strategy, teaching of other aspects of the curriculum through Irish was called for, and recognised it as crucial for young people to truly engage with the language. It never happened.
A major focus of the current strategy is on increasing the number of Irish speakers nationwide, and supporting the many organisations that provide Irish-language classes, competitions, courses and events. But meaningful or effective change in how Irish is taught in schools has been slow since the foundation of the State. Will the latest attempts to reform the Irish language sector also amount to nothing?
Changing how Irish is taught
Thirty years on from the 1983 action plan, and once again, the provision of Irish-language immersion education, or partial immersion education, forms a central plank – arguably the central plank – of the latest Irish-language education strategy.
The idea of immersion education is that pupils are given a chance to use Irish not just in Irish class but also that, for instance, some other classes such as geography, maths, religion and history would be taught through Irish. The strategy says that “from as early as possible in Implementation Phase II, it is proposed to move towards a situation where partial Irish-language immersion will be offered to all children”.
To prove the point that immersion works, the level of pupils in Gaelscoileanna who achieve mastery in both listening and spoken Irish is above 90 per cent. The strategy is in the first phase of implementation and there are still 17 years to bring about change. But three years on, no significant developments have taken place to introduce widespread immersion or partial immersion education.
Indications from the Department of Education and from senior figures in Irish-language organisations suggest that, despite its centrality to the strategy, the issue is not on the table for the time being. The focus is firmly on revising the curriculum for all primary pupils and supporting immersion education in Irish-medium schools, although the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment is developing a new Irish-language primary curriculum and looking closely at the changes that have already been made to the Leaving Cert, particularly the oral exam.
View from the Irish language sector
The Irish-language lobby is suspicious of the Government, after Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s pre-election suggestion that compulsory Irish in schools be abolished. More recently, Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn stated that too much time in schools is spent on Irish and religion.
“There is no evidence of any commitment to the 20-year strategy in the current Government,” says one senior figure in a major Irish-language organisation. “Little by little the language is being downgraded.” The current Programme for Government commits the Government to supporting the strategy and delivering on achievable goals.
The most significant piece of legislation relating to the Irish language is the controversial 2011 Gaeltacht Act, which redefined Gaeltacht areas based on the amount of locals speaking the language rather than on geographic location.
“The Irish-language community are being frozen out of the decision-making processes,” says Julian de Spáinn, general secretary of Conradh na Gaeilge. “The publication of the Strategy was a big achievement and included a range of recommendations from the community. Three years later, and the Department is picking and choosing the easiest elements of the Strategy, implementing only parts that are cost neutral, and ignoring whole swathes of it altogether. A huge amount of mistakes are being made. A high-level structure between the community and the authorities must be set up to oversee the implementation of the strategy, or it will not succeed.”
There are some positive indications. An 11 per cent increase in the uptake of higher level Irish at Leaving Cert level has been linked to the new marking scheme that awards 40 per cent to the oral exam. Overall, the number taking higher-level Irish increased last year by almost 5 per cent to 37 per cent.
De Spáinn says that the teaching of languages needs to be changed entirely. He argues, supported by international evidence, that partial immersion education is central. However, the Department of Education is a long way from implementing this change. Apart from some minor curriculum adjustments, the strategy barely addresses how the teaching of Irish will change. It seems like another major oversight in our approach to the national language.
www.irishtimes.com
Educate Together school gets go-ahead after handover row
Márta 15, 2013
A MULTI-denominational, Educate Together school will open in Dublin’s south inner city in September, the Department of Education has confirmed.
The project has been controversial because of delays in the handover of buildings from an existing Catholic-run school in Basin Lane, James’s Street.
Negotiations suffered a setback when the Edmund Rice Schools Trust (ERST), which runs former Christian Brothers schools, raised legal obstacles to transferring the building.
The building involved is a CBS boys’ primary school, which Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin had previously agreed could merge with a local girls’ Catholic school to facilitate Educate Together.
But among the issues raised by ERST was that it was only permitted to sell off school buildings to “further the purpose of Catholic Education in the Edmund Rice tradition”.
Now, it appears the department has given the go ahead to Educate Together to make its arrangements. The first stage – the recruitment of a principal – will start immediately.
Katherine Donnelly
www.independent.ie
Foilsithe ar 15 Márta 2013
The cupla focal and pious drivel that keeps Irish artificially alive
Márta 15, 2013
IT’S official: God wants the people of Ireland to speak Irish.
This unassailable truth puts all doubt about the future of The Language where it finally belongs: in the rubbish bin of history. Or maybe God was just trying to spare me a lynching.
Now I’ve said many times that the entire project to restore the Irish languages is an immoral waste of time and money – which was why I was asked on last Tuesday’s ‘Prime Time’. This clearly prompted God to behave rather like the Chinese peasant that burns down his house in order to have some roast pork. On Monday, he covered all of Europe in a blanket of snow and ice, and simultaneously banjaxed my central heating, obliging me to chop some firewood. A swing of the axe, and a wicked shard of timber, turned my upper lip into a mouth burger, oozing ketchup.
In my sanguinary stead, RTE got Brenda Power of ‘The Sunday Times’ to play devil’s advocate, against two supporters of The Language. She began by declaring that she was happy to have Irish as the first national tongue, which is rather like a state prosecutor telling the jury that the accused is not guilty. The discussion duly descended into a grisly phantasmagoria of simpering and denial. That such a farrago – all sweet smiles of submission before the Totem of The Language, like young chimps making a communal rictus of obeisance at a dominant alpha male – could even masquerade as a “debate”, says it all.
The Language is one of the foundation-of 20th century Irish nationalism. To keep this submarine airborne requires quite heroic levels of self-deceit, factual falsification, sentimentality, coercion, and much venom. In 1922, virtually the first act of the Free State government was to close all primary schools for three months.
Of the 6,000 primary teachers in Ireland; only 1,000 spoke Irish. The rest were ordered to attend a series of two-week courses run by “specialists”, and during this succession of magical fortnights, they were all taught “Irish”. So there you have it. The complete mastery of a language, which is the greatest intellectual achievement of anyone’s life, and which normally takes 14 years, could suddenly be managed in 1/365th of that time.
And just as religion is often guarded with anger and unreason and accusations of heresy, the cult of The Language is similarly protected. Indeed, the utterly degrading “cupla focal” are merely a secular form of the pious ejaculations that once littered people’s conversations, and which were intended to offer windows to an interior landscape of boundless piety. Furthermore, a spoken language that consists of carefully composed, slang-free sentences, rather like the responses in a Mass, is not a living entity, but a corpse being kissed at the wake.
Any pro-discussion on The Language usually depends on a simultaneous maintenance of two mutually-exclusive, passionately held ideas, which is not uncommon in this land of carnivorous vegans and god-fearing atheists. Thus, some 1.4 million people reported in the last census that A) They speak Irish and B) They never do. Thus, Minister Denny McGinley could declare on ‘Prime Time’ that A) the “the people love the Irish language” and B) “our problem is to get people to speak it”. Not so much the love that dare not speak its name, but does not speak at all.
He carolled happily about The 20-Year Plan, which would produce 250,000 Irish speakers. But don’t hold your breath waiting for a quarter of a million language-Stakhonovites marching into the 2033 sunset, Gaelic spanners in hand, chanting Erse verse.
ADMITTEDLY, Katie Hannon began the ‘Prime Time’ report with a brilliantly candid overview of the state of Irish, including some mordant prerecorded denunciations of the language-by the irrepressible Declan Lynch. (But why was he not in the studio? Or is D Lynch too nice to lynch?)
Apparently, only a thousand primary schoolchildren are now native speakers – the same number of Irish-speaking teachers at the time the State was formed: clearly, another triumph for 91 years of language-Minister McGinley airily declared that rescue was at hand. All civil servants who wanted to learn Irish could now do so – no doubt, using the same magic wand that in 1922 turned some 5,000 teachers into Irish-speakers almost overnight.
Now, if this entire absurd project didn’t cost us over a billion a year, it might almost be funny. But you know what? At the end of The 20Year Plan, when there isn’t a single native-speaking Irish child left, Gaelgori will still be declaring that the emperor is fully clothed, and moreover, righteously lynching anyone who declares otherwise; unless, that is, a kindly God once again intervenes, with a providential frost, a judicious axe, and a shrewd sharp shard through a nonIrish speaking upper-lip.
Kevin Myers
www.independent.ie
Foilsithe ar 15 Márta 2013
Enjoy a variety of sports as Gaeilge at Coláiste Chiaráin
Márta 15, 2013
Coláiste Chiaráin aspires to be about much more than just learning Irish, although there is of course a significant emphasis on engaging and dynamic classes six mornings a week, tailored towards the Junior and Leaving Certificate cycles, and preparatory work for the oral examinations.
The muinteoiri and cuntoiri are also very conscious that a three-week stay in the Connemara Gaeltacht is a character forming experience and they try to help the children embrace that opportunity.
Good weather means students can visit one of Carraroe’s many stunning beaches, go for walks and cycles, play sport outside including soccer, basketball, and Gaelic football, or enjoy water sports.
Sport is an integral part of the Coláiste Chiaráin experience. The natural resource of Loch an Mhuilinn plays host to kayaking, which is always a favourite with the students. During the course, well known GAA personalities facilitate the college with their coaching experience and spend afternoons encouraging students to reach their potential in their particular discipline.
Coláiste Chiaráin looks favourably on any group of students who go not alone for the Irish experience but for the GAA coaching experience and would be willing to offer a reduction of the cost if a suitable number decided to attend. For students sitting the Leaving Certificate in 2014 and onwards there will be a lot of emphasis on oral and aural skills as this constitutes 40 per cent of the total marks.
The success of Coláiste Chiaráin down through the years is partly due to the dynamic of those attending, and the tears on the final night of the course are a testament to a very positive experience.
For more information contact 091 595167 or 091 595186, email eolas@colaistechiarain.ie, or visit www.colaistechiarain.ie
www.advertiser.ie/galway
Foilsithe ar 14 Márta 2013
Let’s talk about Irish
Márta 15, 2013
Upon hearing the news that a member of An Garda Siochana could not answer the question “cad is ainm duit?” in our official first language, I was not surprised.
As a 15-year-old, third-year student, I can tell you that the fact that Irish is a compulsory exam subject will mean that even the most diligent student will merely learn the amount of Irish required for the exam and very little else.
However, I believe the Irish language should still be taught as it is a language unique to this island. I suggest that Irish be taught in schools for two classes a week as a non-exam subject, where the emphasis is on spoken Irish which can be used in everyday life.
Students who wish to should also have the opportunity to choose Irish as a choice subject, so they can sit it in state exams. This would mean that future generations would come to view Irish in a more positive light.
Cathal Murphy
Camolin, Co Wexford
www.independent.ie
Foilsithe ar 15 Márta 2013
Irish-language cheques returned to senders
Márta 15, 2013
There’s a seanfhocail or Irish proverb that says wealth or money makes friendship. However, if it’s a payment written as Gaeilge to a certain bank, it may not always elicit a warm response.
This was the experience of several Co Mayo residents who tried to pay their septic tank registration fee with cheques made out to t he local authority in Irish. The cheques were returned to senders with a letter explaining that Mayo County Council’s bank would not accept them.
They were informed that “Comhairle Contae Mhaigh Eo”, the local authority’s Irish title, was not recognised by the lending institution as matching the account name.
The issue was raised with An Coimisinéir Teanga, the Irish Language Commissioner Sean Ó Cuirreáin, who contacted Mayo County Council. Under the Official Languages Act, a person is entitled to communicate with a public body in either English or Irish.
A spokesman for the council told The Irish Times it was in touch with the bank with a view to resolving the issue. It is understood that the bank, which is State-owned, had told the local authority it was not accepting cheques in Irish from January 2nd, 2013.
A spokeswoman for AIB headquarters said the bank did accept cheques in Irish and there had been no recent change in policy. The spokeswoman said it may have been an issue relating to a local branch.
The fine for non-payment of the septic tank registration fee is up to ¤5,000, but so far there has been an 86 per cent compliance rate nationally, according to the Department of the Environment.
In a separate development, the Irish Language Commissioner has welcomed an initiative by the Garda Commissioner to recruit a percentage of new gardaí who have fluency in Irish. The new policy will only come into force when Garda recruitment resumes, however.
Lorna Siggins
www.irishtimes.com
Foilsithe ar 15 Márta 2013
Sraith Nua Raidió do Scrúdú Béil na hArdteiste
Márta 15, 2013
Beidh an tsraith nua Scrúdú Béil na hArdteiste le cloisteáil ar RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta ó 18-21 Márta, dírithe ar dhaltaí ardteiste atá ag réiteach do bhéaltriail na Gaeilge.
Ó 2012, tá béim ar leith ar an scrúdú béil Gaeilge agus tá sciar na marcanna don scrúdú ardaithe ó 25% go 40%. Beidh Scrúdú Béil na hArdteiste dírithe go sonrach ar an tsraith pictiúr atá mar chuid den scrúdú anois, a bhfuil 33% de na marcanna ag dul dó.
Beidh cúig shraith pictiúr ó chúrsa na bliana seo á gclúdach i ngach eagrán sa tsraith, agus beidh bréagscrúduithe á gcur ar dhaltaí ó Ghaelcholáiste an Chláir sna cláracha. Beidh podchraoltaí le fáil do gach sraith pictiúr ag www.rte.ie/rnag/scrudubeilnahardteiste.html.
Cuideoidh na cláracha le daltaí cur lena stór focal, agus tabharfaidh sé samplaí dóibh de cheisteanna go bhféadfaí a chur orthu. Beidh moltaí san áireamh freisin, bunaithe ar na bréagscúduithe a cloisfimid, faoi bhealaí go bhféadfadh na daltaí feabhas a chur ar a gcuid freagraí.
Is iad an comhlacht Edgecast Media a rinne an tsraith seo, agus is é Conn Ó Muíneacháin léiritheoir agus láithreoir na sraithe.
Beidh Scrúdú Béil na hArdteiste le cloisteáil ag 7pm ó Luan go Déardaoin 18–21 Márta ar RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, agus déanfar athchraoladh ar an tsraith le linn sheachtain na Cásca ó 2–5 Aibreán.
Is féidir le daltaí éisteacht leis na cláracha ar an raidió, ar líne ag www.rte.ie/rnag nó éisteacht siar leis na cláracha ar Sheinnteoir Raidió RTÉ www.rte.ie/radioplayer .
RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta
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