Pátrúnacht agus bunscoileanna lán-Ghaeilge
April 10, 2012
Minister Quinn publishes the report of the Advisory Group to the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector
April 10, 2012
The Minister for Education and Skills, Mr. Ruairí Quinn T.D., today published the report of the Advisory Group to the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector.
Welcoming the report, Minister Quinn said “We live in a changed and changing nation. There is a general acceptance that a greater diversity of primary schooling is necessary and I welcome the readiness among partners to embrace this. The key issue is how best to promote and develop this diversity. The Advisory Group report will assist us in this complex area”.
The Minister thanked the independent Advisory Group members, Professor John Coolahan, Chair of the Group, Dr. Caroline Hussey and Ms Fionnuala Kilfeather for their considerable work and commitment to the Forum.
The Minister said “This report outlines the history and evolution of patronage in Irish society. It also shows the need for the primary school system to now adapt to the needs of a more diverse society”.
247 submissions were received from interest groups, parents and members of the public and were considered by the Advisory group. Primary and post-primary pupils also participated in the consultation process.
The report notes that while 96% of education provision at primary level is denominational arising from the historical development of Irish primary education, there is clearly increased demand for new forms of multi-denominational and non-denominational schooling, as well as increased demand for Irish language schooling.
Minister Quinn said “Parental choice should be our main concern. Over recent decades, Irish society has been undergoing major political, social, economic, cultural, demographic and educational change. Primary school provision needs to reflect this changed society and provide for increased diversity.”
Minister Quinn has asked that the Education Partners and interested parties examine the report and take time to reflect on and digest the recommendations. The Minister is considering the report’s findings and recommendations and he plans to outline his official response in May.
As per the commitment in the Programme for Government, a White Paper on pluralism and patronage in the primary sector will follow.
The recommendations of the Advisory Group can be broadly divided into three key areas:
- Divesting patronage where there is a stable population and demand for diversity of schools
- dealing with Irish medium primary schools
- promoting more inclusiveness in all schools, including ‘Stand Alone’ schools where divesting patronage to another body is not an option
The report recommends achieving diversity of patronage by using the existing stock of schools in areas where the population is stable. Where there is a cluster of denominational schools but also parental demand for alternative school patronage, the report recommends that transfer of patronage be achieved with assistance from the Department.
The Advisory Group cautions against a ‘big bang’ approach and advises that change of patronage should happen in a phased way, through the adoption of a catchment approach, taking account of the preferences of parents.
The report recommends that phase one of this work would involve examining school patronage in 43 towns and 4 Dublin areas identified by the Department in 2010, arising from a request by the Catholic Church, as likely to have substantial demand for diversity. This will involve 18 dioceses and scrutiny of approximately 250 schools, out of which approximately 50 may be divested.
A three stage process is recommended, whereby the DES would gather information on the demand for divestment through parental surveys. This would be followed by a report on the options for patronage and finally patrons would be required to respond within a definite timeframe.
This would occur alongside a programme of provision of new schools in areas of population growth, the patronage of which would be based on parental demand.
The report makes a number of recommendations concerning the provision of Irish medium schools, including the piloting of the concept of a “satellite” school, which would be linked to a well established ‘parent’ Irish medium school.
For communities served by one ‘Stand Alone’ school, where transfer of patronage is not an option, the report makes recommendations aimed at ensuring such schools are as inclusive as possible and accommodate pupils of various belief systems. There are approximately 1700 of these schools, which are at least 3km from their nearest neighbour. The report suggests the development of a protocol which would facilitate all schools in developing clear policies accessible to parents on how they manage diversity and ensure an inclusive and respectful environment for all their pupils.
“The Forum on Patronage is a key commitment in the programme for Government and is another indication of our drive to reform and ensure fairness in our schools. However, I am very conscious of the need to balance making real progress in divesting patronage in the short-term and the longer term aim of ensuring commitment by all concerned to more inclusiveness and diversity in schools,” said Minister Quinn.
Given the demands on the resources available at primary level, the Minister is also mindful that such changes should, wherever possible, be cost neutral.
The Advisory Group report is available from the Forum webpage of the Department website.
Overview of Advisory Group report
The Advisory Group report gives a comprehensive analysis in Section I of school patronage as an issue in the development of the Irish primary school system and in Section II provides an overview of the current school and demographic profile. The report has drawn from a range of studies conducted in recent years on attitudes towards religion, aspects of religious practice and views on religion in schools and the control of schools.
Section III highlights the work already initiated by the Department of Education and Skills which complements the work of the Forum, including the establishment of the Community National Schools since 2008, the new application arrangements for patronage and the requirements and criteria to be used in deciding on future forms of patronage announced by the Minister for Education and Skills in June 2011, the publication of the Department’s Discussion Paper on a Regulatory Framework for School Enrolment (June 2011), with its ensuing consultations, and also the establishment of the Forum itself.
Section IV addresses the issue of divesting, or transfer, of school patronage. The report finds that it is not socially or economically desirable to build new schools in areas of relatively stable population. It finds that it is generally accepted that in such areas, where there are a number of denominational schools and a demand from parents for an alternative form of school patronage, that the main target for divesting is from an existing patron, most often the Catholic Church, through the Department of Education and Skills, to a new patron. The Advisory Group advises that change of patronage should happen in a phased, incremental way, and that a catchment area approach should be adopted. For Phase One, the Advisory Group recommends that this would include examining provision in 43 towns and 4 Dublin areas, identified by the Department in August 2010 at the request of the Catholic Church, to identify a number of schools which may be divested for distribution to other patrons. This would involve 18 dioceses and scrutiny of approximately 250 schools, of which approximately 50 might be divested.
The report sets out three phases to the piloting of divesting. This would involve data collection by the Department on existing provision in the areas and on the preferences of parents. Following consultations with school communities, the Patrons would then provide the Department with a range of options for divestment. The Department would then evaluate the options and submit a report to the Minister.
Section V addresses Irish medium primary schools. The Advisory Group recommends that there should be an analysis of the way Irish medium schools evolve and consideration given to the concept of the ‘satellite’ school which would be linked to a well established ‘parent’ Irish medium school. Parental demand for Irish language schools would also form part of the piloting of divesting in 47 areas suggested in Section IV.
Section VI addresses the ‘Stand Alone’ school, i.e. schools, many in rural areas, which are at least 3km away from the next school and which constitute about 1700 of 3200 primary schools, where provision of diversity through a choice of school under another patron is not an option. The Report pays particular attention to how these schools can become more inclusive and respectful of the Constitutional rights of parents and their children, who are often from a range of theist and non-theist backgrounds. To this end, the Advisory Group presents a possible framework for the development of a protocol for an inclusive school. Areas suggested for inclusion in a protocol include: having Boards of Management of denominational schools reflect the diversity of the local community; development of mechanisms for Whole School and self-evaluation by schools of practice on diversity and ethos; ensuring equitable enrolment policies; dealing effectively with the Constitutional right to opt out of religious instruction; ensuring education about religions and beliefs and ethics is available to all pupils
Issues underpinning diversity in all schools are addressed in Section VII. These include further elements of the proposed protocol, including the development by Boards of Management of policies on religious and cultural celebrations in schools, on the display of religious artefacts and the conduct of communal prayers and assemblies, where these take place. The report recommends that the Rules for National Schools which date from 1965 be reviewed, in particular Rule 68, which makes references to religion as ‘the most important subject in the curriculum’ and to the need for a religious spirit to ‘inform and vivify the whole school day’. These are considered outdated and have been the subject of much criticism, nationally and internationally. It is also recommended that Education about Religion and Beliefs (ERB) and Ethics should be part of the curriculum for all children and that the NCCA be asked to develop an ERB programme and an Ethics programme for the primary school, in line with the Toledo Principles. The report envisages that such programmes would be supplementary to existing programmes such as, ‘Alive O’ and, ‘Goodness Me, Goodness You’, which already include elements of ERB and ethics.
The importance of continuing to make provision for social inclusion and for children with special educational needs while catering for diversity is also emphasised.
Section VIII deals with the resources required to implement certain recommendations in the Report. Section IX lists all the recommendations in one dedicated section.
Forum terms of reference
The terms of reference of the Forum were to advise the Minister on:
- How it can best be ensured that the education system can provide a sufficiently diverse number and range of primary schools catering for all religions and none;
- The practicalities of how transfer/divesting of patronage should operate for individual primary schools in communities where it is appropriate and necessary;
- How such transfer/divesting can be advanced to ensure that demands for diversity of patronage (including from an Irish language perspective) can be identified and met on a widespread basis nationally.
In undertaking this work the Forum would, in particular, have regard for the following:
The expressed willingness of the Catholic Church to consider divesting patronage of primary schools;
The current financial constraints within which the State is operating, the need for continued restraint into the future and the requirement in this context to make maximum use of existing school infrastructure in catering for future demands.
Advisory Group members
The Minister appointed an Advisory Group to oversee the Forum and meet these terms of reference. The Advisory Group was chaired by Dr. John Coolahan, Professor Emeritus at NUI Maynooth. The other members of the Advisory Group were Dr. Caroline Hussey, former Registrar and Deputy President, UCD and Fionnuala Kilfeather, former Chief Executive of the National Parents Council – Primary.
Consultation process
The Advisory Group conducted a number of meetings in public and sought submissions from main stakeholder groups and the public as part of its work. 215 written submissions were received and these were examined by the Advisory Group. Public working sessions with the main stakeholder groups were held on 22, 23 and 24 June 2011 and a further plenary session was held on 17 November 2011. Following the November session a further 32 submissions were received. These working sessions were broadcast live over the Internet and recordings of the working sessions are available from the Department website, along with all the submissions received and other Forum documents.
(http://www.education.gov.ie/home/home.jsp?pcategory=10856&ecategory=56743&language=EN).
The fourteen main stakeholders involved:
- Association of Trustees of Catholic Schools
- Catholic Primary Schools Management Association
- Department of Education and Skills
- Educate Together
- Foras Pátrúnachta na Scoileanna Lán-Ghaeilge Teoranta
- Gaelscoileanna Teoranta
- Irish National Teachers’ Organisation
- Irish Primary Principals’ Network
- Irish Vocational Education Association
- National Association of Boards of Management in Special Education
- National Parents Council – Primary
- The Board of Education of the Church of Ireland
- The Council for Education of the Irish Episcopal Conference
- The Islamic Foundation of Ireland
The Advisory Group also held consultation sessions with primary and post-primary pupils to ensure their views were considered as part of the Group’s deliberations.
Tacaíocht phoiblí do Ghaelscoil Mhic Amhlaigh
April 10, 2012
Clarification sought on VEC school patronage
April 10, 2012
THE DEPARTMENT of Education is seeking “further clarification” from Galway’s vocational education committee on its patronage plans for the city’s first community primary school. This following concerns about the way parental support was canvassed.
Minister for Education and Skills Ruairí Quinn has already sanctioned a second Irish-medium primary school for one of the city’s largest suburbs, Knocknacarra, but has postponed final approval on its patronage pending the clarification, his department has confirmed.
The development comes as parents at the suburb’s only existing Irish-medium primary school, Gaelscoil Mhic Amhlaigh, have pledged to seek a reversal of Mr Quinn’s recent decision to shelve their planned extension.
The growing suburb of Knocknacarra has two primary schools – Gaelscoil Mhic Amhlaigh and St John the Apostle, both of which are Roman Catholic in ethos.
Four applications for patronage of a third school were submitted last year to the department – by City of Galway VEC, by the national Gaelscoileanna patron body An Foras Pátrúnachta, by the multidenominational patron Educate Together and by the Steiner national patron body Lifeways Ireland Ltd.
In its assessment, the department noted that Lifeways Ireland Ltd had not agreed to comply with all requirements, and that Educate Together had other schools in the catchment which were going to be extended – even though one of these two is over 3km away in an adjoining suburb, Newcastle, and the other is 15km away in the village of Claregalway in the north of the county.
It noted that City of Galway VEC had shown strong parental demand, while An Foras Pátrúnachta had not, but both proposed a multidenominational ethos and made the case for Irish-medium use.
However, it also recorded in its report that An Foras Pátrúnachta had raised questions about the city of Galway VEC application, as a letter seeking parental support for same had been sent out by a VEC secondary school which is due to move to Knocknacarra.
The letter sent from Coláiste na Coiribe secondary school sought expressions of interest from the proposed all-Irish City of Galway VEC primary, promising that “all students who have attended” it would have “automatic transfer rights to Coláiste na Coiribe”.
Fine Gael city councillor Pádraig Conneely, who is a member of the VEC, is seeking an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the issuing of the letter when there is already a Gaelscoil in the Knocknacarra area which is a feeder school for Coláiste na Coiribe.
Acting City of Galway VEC chief executive Tomás Mac Pháidín, who is on leave of absence from his position as principal in Coláiste na Coiribe, said that the letter was issued by the secondary school based on application addresses recorded for future years. It was not issued by the VEC, he said.
Meanwhile, Gaelscoil Mhic Amhlaigh’s case for an extension has been supported by all five Galway West TDs, two Senators and five councillors in the Galway city west ward, while over 3,000 people have signed a petition to have Mr Quinn’s decision to postpone work overturned.
The project to provide permanent classrooms for more than 200 children in the 450-pupil school was due to go to tender, having already received planning permission and specification approval by the department. It was dropped from the department’s list last month, however.
Concern has also been expressed by local politicians that extension plans for Scoil Náisiúnta Bhríde primary school in Lackagh, and Clifden Community School in Co Galway have been shelved.
www.irishtimes.com
Trilingual kids who will never be tongue-tied
April 10, 2012
You’d think speaking three languages would be confusing for kids, but don’t underestimate their ability to absorb
MY FIRST experience of trilingual children was living in Sri Lanka in 2005, where many of the kids I met spoke Tamil, Sinhala and English. I was astounded when I realised that they could also read and write in these languages, a feat requiring knowledge of three completely different scripts – the Roman alphabet, Tamil script with more than 200 letters, and Sinhalese which has more than 50 characters.
Indeed, to some of these children it appeared a language wasn’t real unless it had its own autonomous script. One young boy remained sceptical, despite my assurances, that French, Irish and English really were different languages.
Back then it never crossed my mind that one day I might have children growing up with three languages. Six years later I am blessed with two boys, Cóilín and Tarla, aged five and two, and thanks to their dad’s commitment to speak Irish to them, and the chance move to Brussels, our sons are growing up trilingually.
We’ve taken on board the standard advice for multilingual families to have a consistent communication system and to stick to one parent, one language. I converse in English with the boys and their dad, who in turn speaks English with me and Irish with the boys.
He made the decision to speak Irish when Cóilín was about nine months old, but the advice is to start from birth. Cóilín speaks English with us both, apart from a few words as Gaeilge that get inserted into an English sentence, eg “Come on, Dad, it’s time for iomrascáil [wrestling]!”
The number of Irish words he uses increases significantly when I am not around and he spends a lot of time with his dad.
Cóilín picked up French at his local playschool. Six months after he started at the age of two years nine months, we had some wobbly moments wondering whether it was all too much for him. But then, miraculously, he started speaking French and now he wonders why I am going to French classes: “What words do you want to know, Mum? I can tell you.”
For the first year or so Cóilín mixed words from all three languages, a phenomenon which is well documented among multilingual children. Gradually this stopped as he became aware of what he then called “Mummy’s language”, “Daddy’s language” and his teacher “Madame Mireille’s language”. The youngest, Tarla (2), is currently speaking a mixture of words. His vocabulary includes: man, péire (as in a pair of socks/gloves/shoes), pomme (apple) and au revoir.
Having grown up in a largely monolingual society I am amazed by my kids’ ability to absorb the languages they hear around them. But available data shows that, globally, monolinguals are in the minority. In this multicultural city many children are being raised with at least two if not three, four or five languages.
One time I was introduced to a Belgian teenager who greeted me with a choice of languages: “Français? English? Nederlands?” And I’ve met a Spanish/Lithuanian couple who converse with each other in English but speak their so-called heritage languages to their daughter, who goes to a French-speaking creche.
The advantages of being multilingual go beyond the obvious ones of being able to communicate and access different cultures. There are non-linguistic benefits too.
Sam Wang, a neuroscientist at Princeton University, says these include the ability to cope better with conflict cues; increasing so-called theory of mind, which refers to being able to understand what is going on in another person’s mind, a skill that relates to empathy; and delaying dementia.
It’s one thing growing up multilingually in Brussels but what about growing up with three languages in Ireland? Aonghus Ó hAlmhain and his German wife Ute, who live in Co Wicklow, speak Irish and German at home with their sons, Tiernán (16) and Fionn (15), and daughter Freddie (5). Aonghus grew up speaking Irish in Dublin and has been speaking as Gaeilge to his children “from before birth”.
“It would be a shocking waste not to pass on the languages we have available to us,” says Aonghus, for whom speaking different languages means “you are not stuck with one way of looking at the world”.
While he acknowledges that things have improved since he was a child, he says: “I think Anglophone Ireland has a long way to go to understand bilingualism, not to mention multilingualism. It’s very hard to find medical personnel who understand that a child can be bilingual or multilingual.
“If you suspect a speech difficulty you will at best meet a lack of understanding and at worst hostility. I know of people who have been told that really it’s their fault for not speaking English.”
In general, says Aonghus, people are curious when they realise that their kids are trilingual. “Sometimes [I get] questions about whether their English will suffer or whether I’m concerned that they will be confused.” His answer is an emphatic “no”.
Their boys, who were born in Berlin, “picked up English on the street” about a year after they moved to Ireland aged four and five. “There was no conscious input from us,” says Aonghus.
As is common, the children initially mixed languages and one of their favourite English/German/Irish anecdotes is of Freddie’s game that she loved to play by a stream aged three. “I want to schmiess [throw] clocha [stones].”
The language the children communicate in goes through phases, says Aonghus. “The kids spoke German all the time to me [except when they wanted something!] until we spent some time on Inis Oírr and they heard other children speaking Irish.”
Tiernán (16) says he is proud of his trilingualism. Apart from the obvious advantage of being able to communicate with Irish, English and German speakers in their native tongue, he says his trilingualism helps with his French and Spanish study.
Barbara Garrido from Spain and Olajide Ogidan from Nigeria, who met in Ireland, are also bringing up their children, Cynthia (8), Samuel (6) and Victor (5), with three languages. Their family languages are Spanish, English and Yoruba. Barbara speaks Spanish with the kids and says her eldest is fluent and that the youngest understands everything. When their dad, Olajide, is around, the family communicate in English, the language that they speak together as a couple.
Olajide spoke Yoruba (which he grew up with along with English) to Cynthia when she was born, but “somewhere along the line he stopped,” explains Barbara. He’s now back speaking Yoruba to the children every evening in an effort to keep their Nigerian roots alive.
Barbara says the reaction to her kids’ multilingualism has been positive and remembers someone, most likely her GP, telling her to “make sure to speak Spanish to them”.
Rory McDaid, education lecturer in Marino Institute of Education, echoes this advice: “The bottom line is encourage the use of all languages. Parents, don’t stop speaking to your kids in your own languages.”
He has come across a case where one family were told “to take out the Romanian TV. This has huge impacts in terms of family relationships and lots of international studies show the negative social consequences of prioritising English over other languages.”
He is particularly concerned that teachers and speech therapists should understand and encourage multilingualism.
For English speakers in particular, it’s easy to be lazy when it comes to learning other languages, and, as any mature student knows, it is hard work, so if your children have the opportunity to imbibe other languages when they are young my advice is take advantage of their good fortune. After all: Tús maith leath na hoibre. It will broaden their minds, expand their horizons and provide a lifetime of pleasure.
Resources
Growing up with Three Languages by Xiao-lei Wang, 2008, published by Multilingual Matters.
Comhluadar, the association for Irish-speaking families. comhluadar.ie
www.irishtimes.com
Quinn questions school emphasis on Irish, religion
April 10, 2012
THE AMOUNT of class time devoted to Irish and religion in primary schools has been questioned by Minister for Education, Ruairí Quinn.
He said teachers had told him how up to 30 per cent of all contact time in some primary classes was taken up by these two subjects. “If we are worried about literacy and numeracy and this figure is close to being correct … then we have to ask ourselves questions.”
In an Irish Times interview, he recalled how some educationalists had labelled Irish-language policy as the “biggest single policy failure in Irish education”.
Last year, Fine Gael proposed the abolition of compulsory Irish after Junior Cert; it later abandoned the proposal under pressure from the Irish-language lobby.
Asked if he would revive such a measure, Mr Quinn said: “I am implementing the programme for government.” (This proposes no change in Irish-language policy.) He said he had “enough fronts” open at present, including the drive for major reform of the Junior and Leaving Cert exams. Mr Quinn said he would be happy to get some of these reforms “over the line”.
He stressed his own support for religious education. “I think religion is absolutely essential if you want to understand modern civilisation. But there is a difference between teaching religion and faith formation in schools.”
Mr Quinn said he had some concerns about faith formation in the new community national schools established by the VEC.
Last week , it was revealed that the Department of Education in 2008 gave a series of commitments to Catholic Church authorities in relation to religious instruction in these schools.
He hoped this issue would be addressed in a forthcoming report from the Forum on Pluralism and Patronage in primary schools.
On the general issue of school standards, the Minister said Irish people had “talked up’’ their education system when there had always been very high levels of functional illiteracy, especially among young boys. The most recent OECD report indicated that up to 25 per cent of young males are functionally illiterate.
While the system was not as good as it was cracked up to be, Mr Quinn said the overall performance of the education sector compared well with other aspects of the public service.
“Over one million people are involved every day in full-time education … and you don’t hear about trolleys in the corridors and you don’t hear about disruption. The business gets done.”
Asked about the department’s overall management of the education system, when Ireland’s rankings were falling in both literacy and numeracy, he said: “I can’t answer for the past. What I can say is that I am encountering no resistance from within the department to my reform plans.”
Mr Quinn said his priority in office was to overhaul second-level education, which, he said, “did not encourage independent thinking”. He hoped the new Junior Cert would be implemented from 2017, with a revised Leaving Cert being rolled out shortly after.
But he stressed he would preserve the integrity of the current exam system. The public still had faith, he said, in the impartiality of the Leaving Cert and the points system. He would be very reluctant to do anything to undermine the integrity of the Leaving Cert and the points system.
On teacher underperformance he said new powers given to the Teaching Council – the regulatory group for the profession – would transform the current situation.
He wanted to abolish the notion that “parents are powerless and that they are reluctant to complain for fear that it will do damage to their children going through the system. They now have a say that they never had before.”
www.irishtimes.com
No ‘big bang’ on changes to schools patronage
April 10, 2012
CHANGES IN school patronage should be implemented in a phased way with no “big bang” approach, according to the report of the Advisory Group of the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in primary schools.
The report is designed to provide a roadmap for the transfer of Catholic schools to other patrons. In the first phase, it recommends 43 towns and four Dublin areas where there is likely to be substantial demand for diversity.
This will involve 18 dioceses and scrutiny of 250 schools, of which about 50 may be divested. Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn has said he hopes to see 1,500 of the 3,000 Catholic primary schools divested. The report is much more cautious. It backs a three-stage process as follows:
* The department gathers information on the demand for divestment through parental surveys;
* Various school patrons provide the Department of Education with a range of options for divestment after consultations with school communities;
* The department evaluates the options and submits a report to the Minister.
For 1,700 “stand alone” rural schools – where transfer of patronage is not an option – the report says these must be as inclusive as possible and accommodate pupils of various belief systems.
Welcoming the report, Mr Quinn said: “We live in a changed and changing nation. There is a general acceptance that a greater diversity of primary schooling is necessary . . . The key issue is how best to promote and develop this diversity.”
The report notes an increasing demand for new forms of multidenominational and nondenominational schooling.
The report recommends changes to the 1965 Rules for National Schools which states religion is “the most important subject in the curriculum” and to the need for a religious spirit to “inform and vivify the whole school day”. These are considered outdated and have been the subject of much criticism, nationally and internationally.
The advisory group was chaired by Prof John Coolahan.
www.irishtimes.com
Dunne brings Irish campaign to Galway
April 10, 2012
Until recently, former WBA Super-Bantam Weight World Champion boxer Bernard Dunne was among the 98.2 per cent of Irish residents who do not speak Irish on a daily basis outside of an educational context.
When he defeated Ricardo Cordoba in 2009 to claim the world title, Dunne wanted to say a few words in Irish, but lacked the confidence to do so, having failed his Leaving Certificate Irish exam.
Showing the same tenacity and determination which marked his career in the ring, when he retired Dunne set about improving his grasp on the language, buying books and audio CDs and studying hard, so that he could raise his two children through Irish.
Two years later, the boxer was last week filming at the Spanish Arch for his new television show, Bród Club, where he encourages the people of Ireland to take pride in their language, and to take whatever Irish they have and “say it out loud”. In an accompanying web campaign, it is hoped that 100,000 people will commit to using what Irish they have every day.
“The aim of Bród Club is to encourage people to start using their language again and enjoy it. The one thing I’ve noticed since we’ve started the show is how much Irish is actually out there, how much people can actually say,” he said.
“I suppose there’s a fear out there of making mistakes, there’s a fear out there of using your language on the street, and that’s the aim now, is to get people out on the street saying hello, saying goodbye, saying thank-you, just simple things, as Gaeilge.”
Difficult though it may be for a boxer to admit, the former world champion acknowledges that he initially had “the fear” when it came to speaking Irish out loud.
“You’ve got to get to a stage where you’re going to say: ‘Look, I’m going to say it out loud. I’m going to say ‘Dia dhuit’ to somebody; I’m going to say cén chaoi a bhfuil tú?’ The more you use the more comfortable you get, and I’m at the stage now where I just want to have fun with the language, and I want other people to enjoy it as well,” he explained.
For someone who made his fame intimidating and fighting opponents, the Clondalkin man shows he is an approachable front man for the Bród campaign during his time in Galway. He welcomes all fans and well wishers alike, conversing in Irish with those who can, and gently cajoling cúpla focal from those who are more reticent about making a mistake in front of a sporting idol.
For Dunne, it’s all about “déanamh an iarracht”. “It’s just about making an effort. I try and just use it fun situations, and slag and play games with my kids,” he said.
During his visit to Galway last Thursday, Dunne also met with Laurence and Cécile Nichol from Renmore, who decided to enrol their daughter, Saoirse, in a Gaelscoil after being inspired by watching Bród Club.
“The fact that someone who didn’t speak it has now championed the cause has been an inspiration to me,” said Mr Nichol.
Mr Nichol’s wife, Cécile, is French, so the couple knew that Saoirse and their younger son, Thibault, would grow up speaking French, but although Laurence speaks some Irish, whether their daughter and son would ever speak it fluently was far from certain.
“I’ve had a chequered relationship with Irish myself, but I still have a grá for it,” said Mr Nichol.
Watching Bród Club got the Nichols debating about whether their children should grow up fluent in Irish, as well as English and French, and the fresh approach taken by Bród Club won them over.
“We were talking about it because of the Bród Club, and we just said, ‘let’s give it a try,’” said Mr Nichol.
Bernard Dunne’s six part television series Bród Club will next air on Monday 9 April at 7.30pm on RTÉ One.
www.galwayindependent.com
Lucht na teanga ag cogaint staitisticí an daonáirimh go smior
April 4, 2012
Agóid Náisiúnta ag Scoileanna Gaeltachta & Muintir na Tuaithe ag Ard Fheis Pháirtí an Lucht Oibre
April 4, 2012
