Minister launches more patronage surveys
January 15, 2013
Residents of Kildare town awoke yesterday to hear the unexpected news that a new gaelscoil is to open in September 2013.
Minister for Education and Skills Ruairí Quinn TD said that the decision had been founded on a clear demand amongst locals for Irish language medium education.
Secretary General of Irish language patronage body An Foras Pátrúnachta, Caoimhín Ó hEaghra said that he was delighted with the decision to accept the evidence for a new gaelscoil.
The Minister made the announcement at the launch of a new series of surveys on school patronage in primary schools across the country. Parents in 38 areas will eligible to take part in the process.
However it is uncertain whether the Minister believes that any further announcements of school openings is to follow the surveys, due to the stable nature of the population in some of the more rural areas. Minister Quinn did hint that more negotiations might take place to divest current schools from the patronage of the Catholic Church, depending on the outcome of the surveys.
In spite of this, Irish language organisations have asked interested parents to show their support for Irish medium education.
“This is a great opportunity for parents who wish to promote Irish language education in their area, a move which could be established under the auspices of the Irish language patronage body, An Foras Pátrúnachta” said Secretary General, Caoimhín Ó hEagra.
This is the next step in the process since results of pilot studies in Arklow, Castlebar, Tramore, Trim and Whitehall were announced last December. The biggest outcome, according to the Minister was a clear demand for diversity of patronage in these areas.
However some groups have pointed out that the results of the surveys which were completed by 1,788 parents, were unrepresentative of the school population in those areas.
Speaking yesterday, Minister Quinn said that lessons had been learned from the initial pilot survey scheme. He confirmed that the process would take place over a longer period of time and that the Department would work to publicise the initiative in the various regions.
He has asked parents to take part in the process online on www.education.ie and fill in the surveys before Friday February 8th 2013.
Foilsithe ar Gaelport.com
Tóstal na Gaeilge 2013 to be held in Dublin this February
January 15, 2013
“Beart de réir Briathair” which loosely translates as ‘practice as you preach’ is the theme of Tóstal na Gaeilge 2013, which will be held in Dublin city centre in a month’s time.
In the Hilton Hotel, Charlemont Place, Dublin 2, the Irish language community and friends of the language will come together on the 16th February 2013 to discuss the most pertinent issues facing the language. Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge have put together a comprehensive programme of events for the day from 09:30 – 17:00.
In the morning, Government policy relating to the Irish language will be discussed, with two separate panels of guest speakers focussing primarily on the latest policies introduced by the Government under the Gaeltacht Act 2012.
The first discussion session will centre on the topic of raising a family with Irish, and the challenges faced in passing the language from one generation to the next within the family.
Gormfhlaith Ní Thuairisg of RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta will steer the discussion between guest speakers: Feargal Ó Cuilinn, Head of Comhluadar; Dr Briain Ó Curnáin, an expert in dialectology and the Irish language sociology at the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies; Aoife Ní Shéagha, Lecturer in Language Planning at NUI Galway; and Sorcha Ní Chéilleachair, Chairperson of Tuismitheoirí na Gaeltachta – Conamara.
“An Ghaeltacht in 2013” will be the topic for discussion under the chairmanship of Rónán Mac an Iomaire, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, with speakers including: Seosamh Mac Donncha, NUI Galway, Stiofán Ó Cualáin, Údarás na Gaeltachta; Treasa Ní Mhainín, Eagraíocht na Scoileanna Gaeltachta; as well as a representative from the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
After a break for lunch, two more sessions will follow which will discuss the effect of Government policy on the Irish language and state responsibility for the future of the language. These hot topics will be debated, under the watchful eye of Eimear Ní Chonaola, Nuacht TG4, by panels including elected public representatives and spokespersons for Government agencies.
The full programme of events for Tóstal na Gaeilge 2013 will be published on Gaelport.com and on social networks over the coming weeks under the hash tag #Tnag13.
Admission to Tóstal na Gaeilge will cost €15, and lunch will be provided. To attend, you must register in advance for the event by contacting Máire Ní Phuirséil, Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge, 01 6794780 or maire@comhdhail.ie.
The Hilton Hotel is centrally located adjacent to the Charlemont Luas stop.
Foilsithe ar Gaelport.com
Buntáiste Breise na Gaeilge Tour 2013
January 15, 2013
As part of our 2013 tour Gaeilge Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge are currently hosting a series of Irish language careers seminars for secondary school students all over Ireland.
In recent years Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge have organised over twenty such seminars with 6,453 students from 201 post-primary schools from all over the country having attended the seminars nationwide.
These seminars cater for students in fourth, fifth and sixth year in secondary schools across the country. These seminars cater for second level students all over Ireland. Guest speakers and well-known personalities will speak on the advantages which the Irish language has afforded them in their chosen careers.
On Wednesday, 27th February 2013 the seminar will cater for pupils in counties Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo when a seminar will be hosted in Ballina, Co. Mayo.
On Thursday 28th February a seminar will take place in The Mount Errigal Hotel in Letterkenny where pupils from all over Donegal, Derry, Fermanagh and Tyrone are invited to attend and listen to a wonderful panel of guest speakers on the day.
Speakers include, from RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta broadcaster Rónán Mac Aodha Bhuí, Caitlín Uí Chlochláin Irish language Officer with Donegal County Council, Donegal’s footballer Eamon McGee and Dermot Mc Laughlin, Project Director City of Culture 2013.
As part of the seminars, questions from the students are welcomed, which give rise to lively debate about such subjects as the future of the language, Gaeltacht status, Irish as a compulsory subject, Irish at third level, and the Government’s support for the language.
Here are some upcoming seminars which will take place in Autumn 2013:
Carrick-on-Shannon – Wednesday, 16th October 2013
Galway – Thursday, 17th October 2013
Silver Springs Moran Hotel, Cork City – Wednesday, 13th November 2013
The Malton Hotel, Killarney, Co. Kerry – Thursday, 14th November 2013
If your school would like to attend this seminar, please contact Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge: +353 1 679 4780 / e-mail eolas@gaelport.com for further information visit: www.gaelport.com/bbnag.
Foilsithe ar Gaelport.com
WHY BILINGUALISM? Two Languages Are Better Than One
January 15, 2013
Short video on the benefits of bilingualism: Why Bilingualism?
New children’s books to be won from Gaelport.com
January 15, 2013
This week one lucky subscriber will win a children’s book titled ‘Sicín’, which is distributed by Comharchumann Forbartha an Leith-Triúigh, located in Kerry.
The author of this beautiful book Máiréad Mag Uidhir was born and raised in Limerick. She has spent her working life teaching in her native city, teaching Children with Special Needs in St Joseph’s Primary School in Lisnagry at first and then for thirty years in Scoil Íde, Corbally.
‘Sicín’ is a lovely little book for children. It contains a wonderful story about nestlings who are about to leave the nest for the first time. There are three nestlings in all: Mattie, Jenny and Tiny. The events in the story happen on a Special Day, the day that the little birds are about to fly for the first time and leave the nest. Tiny is the hero of the story. Everybody thinks that he is not brave enough to fly by himself but he confounds the lot of them!
This is a lovely little herostory for children in the age group 4 – 8. It’s a simple, humorous, well-written story about overcoming all the odds and there is an important lesson contained therein: everyone can be a hero if he/she is brave enough.
The book is beautifully illustrated with some beautiful coloured illustrations by Mary and Emma Gilleece. This book would be very suitable in class for primary schoolchildren in the age group 4 – 8.
This week’s question:
Name the author of the book ‘Sicín’ ?
• Éilís Ni Dhuibhne
• Ríona Ní Congáil
• Máiréad Mag Uidhir
• Anna Heussaff
Please forward answers along with yours school’s name and contact details to the following email address: duais@comhdhail.ie and have the words “Comórtas Gaelport” as the subject of your mail.
The closing date for receipt of entries is 12 noon 24th January 2013.
We are grateful to Comharchumann Forbartha an Leith Triúigh Teoranta who kindly supplied the prize for this competition.
Congratulations to Padaí Ó Mianáin from Derry who won some wonderful CDs in our last edition.
Foilsithe ar Gaelport.com
Comhrá Gaeilge do mhicléinn i gCeatharlach
January 15, 2013
Campaign for small schools to continue
January 15, 2013
Education campaigners in Donegal say department policies continue to threaten small schools, particularly minority faith and language schools, and said their protests will continue this year.
“There has been widespread debate about the consequences of last year’s budget with regard to small schools, and the result of the pupil-teacher ratio cuts in these schools,” said Father John Joe Duffy, Ballybofey curate and campaigner for small schools.
Father Duffy said the results of last year’s measures will be felt over the coming years, and fully realised in 2016-2017. He said the decision by Education Minister, Ruairi Quinn, TD, to reverse cuts last year to urban schools in the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (Deis) scheme but not to reverse the cuts for rural Deis schools, “clearly demonstrate a government who do not seem to understand that rural Ireland is suffering from social, educational and financial disadvantage, and the legacy of deprivation in rural towns and villages”.
Small Donegal schools have been particularly hard hit by government proposals to increase the number of pupils a national school must enrol to maintain staffing levels. The new staffing scheme takes effect over three years, with required enrolment increasing each year.
The past year has been “one of anxiety and worry and stress about the future of our schools,” schools campaigner and Church of Ireland Rev. John Deane said. “We’re worried about the pupil-teacher ratio being increased. We’re worried about the capitation moneys we get from the government that are being cut as well, and those two put together are very worrying for us.”
Church of Ireland schools are at the heart of local community and parish life, but the distances between them would make amalgamation impossible, Rev. Deane said. He used the Wood School in Ardara as an example, noting that the nearest minority-faith school to the north is in Dunfanaghy; the nearest to the south is in Dunkineely.
“It’s guaranteed in our constitution that minorities will be protected and looked after, but to me that is not happening at the moment,” Rev. Deane said. He said minority-faith schools have received significant capital investments but said there are a number of schools “coming very, very near the cut-off point” in terms of enrolment.
Rev. Deane added that minority-faith schools have also received great support from the Catholic community, and also credited the work of Father Duffy. “Don’t get me wrong,” Rev. Deane said. “We have the best of community relations here but we would like to be able to hold on to our own ethos and culture that we have in our small schools.”
Rev. Deane and Father Duffy were among Donegal’s most prominent campaigners for small schools last year, working together to highlight the impact of department decisions on small rural schools. “The most damning indictment of the government’s policy of severe cuts in pupil-teacher ratios was the severe consequence this had on Protestant and linguistic-minority schools,” Father Duffy said. He said the cuts will continue to have a much more severe effect “on the very future and survival of the schools”.
Though Father Duffy said he accepted Minister Quinn had not intended to disproportionately affect those schools, he said, “His actions, in many cases, will result in the closure of Protestant and minority linguistic schools”.
Father Duffy said Budget 2013 missed an opportunity “to show that we are a truly pluralistic society, that we are a truly inclusive country and that we are a democracy in which there is a place for minorities. “I believe now is the time for this government to show all the people on the island of Ireland, north and south, that we give equal rights and equal opportunities to all our children in our country, where class, creed and language ought to be treated equally,” he said.
Father Duffy and Rev. Deane addressed a protest against education cuts held in March of 2012 that drew up to 2,500 people to Letterkenny. They said the campaign will continue this year. “We’re looking to reinvigorate the protest we had,” Rev. Deane said. He said they have lobbied Donegal’s Oireachtas members, though results have been disappointing. “We’ve been promised nothing and we’ve certainly got nothing, to be honest with you,” he said.
Father Duffy said he had also been disappointed by the lack of political engagement and leadership on the issue in Donegal and nationally. “The issues are very much alive and require political leadership in order to solve them,” he said. “Therefore our campaign continues.”
www.donegaldemocrat.ie
Emergency Meeting to discuss future of COGG
January 15, 2013
An emergency meeting of Irish language and education organisations will take place in Dublin tomorrow to discuss the proposed merger of An Chomhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta (COGG) with the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment.
Secretary General of the Department of Education and Skills, Seán Ó Foghlú announced the amalgamation at an Irish-medium education conference on November 23rd 2012.
Since its foundation in 2002, COGG has provided textbooks, posters, Irish language programming and electronic learning materials to Irish-medium schools across the country. It has also funded research in the area of language teaching and immersion education and acts as an advisory body on issues concerning Irish-medium education.
A meeting of Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge, Eagraíocht na Scoileanna Gaeltachta and Gaelscoileanna, organisations which campaigned for the establishment of the Council, as well An Foras Pátrúnachta and Na Naíonraí Gaelacha will be held to discuss a campaign to support COGG.
The organisations have expressed worry that the role of COGG as an independent agency will be diminished by the merger as well as concerns that the final word on future funding would be made by the NCCA.
The future of COGG has been uncertain since 2009 where Colm McCarthy’s An Bord Snip Nua report recommended that the council be closed. Following the McCarthy report, the Department of Education and Science defended COGG and recommended that it should continue to function as an independent body.
There was some concern that the Bord Snip report failed to take into account the wider functions of COGG in promoting Irish-medium education.
However in the past year the Department has changed its policy and hinted indirectly to representatives of COGG that a merger with the NCCA was on the cards.
No official representations were made to the board or staff of COGG in the interim and it is reported that the organisation was informed of the changes on the day prior to the conference of Gaelscoileanna and Eagraíocht na Scoileanna Gaeltachta in November.
The Department has stated that the merger would ensure that COGG would concentrate its resources on its core functions of providing teaching resources to support the teaching of Irish in tandem with the NCCA’s work on revising the curriculum.
According to Ó Foghlú, “The general administrative functions, which are a considerable burden on a small staff, will now be provided by the NCCA”
Three staff are currently employed by COGG and it is now believed that they would operate as an Irish language unit within the NCCA.
The Department’s planned savings may be scuppered however by the fact that both agencies operate on a daily basis using different languages with COGG conducting all of its business, accounts and administration through the medium of Irish language.
The Department insists that the merger makes sense and will benefit Irish-medium education in the long term. Speaking at the Gaelscoileanna conference Seán Ó Foghlú stated that COGG would preserve its identity under the auspices of the NCCA. “The move will strengthen its ability to support Irish-medium education and the teaching of Irish generally”, he added.
Foilsithe ar Gaelport.com
New Gaelscoil for Kildare, September 2013 & Parental Survey – Press Release from An Foras Pátrúnachta
January 14, 2013
The Minister for Education, Ruairí Quinn, announced today that a new Gaelscoil is to open in Kildare Town in September of this year. In the same announcement the Minister outlined the commencement of the second phase of the survey of parents on the divestment of schools from the Catholic Church.
Caoimhín Ó hEaghra, Ard Rúnaí An Foras Pátrúnachta, stated that ‘ We are delighted for the people of Kildare Town. There is great demand locally for Irish Medium Education which has been illustrated by the waiting lists for the other Irish Medium schools in the area. Ó hEaghra continued ‘An Foras Pátrúnachta are thankful to the Department for looking favourably on our application on behalf of the people of Kildare Town.”
In relation to the divestment of Catholic schools the second phase of the survey on 38 areas around the country is commencing today. The Minister is asking parents in these areas to complete the online survey before the 8th of February 2013. The survey can be accessed on the Department’s website at www.education.ie or all information can be found at www.foras.ie.
Ó hEaghra stated that “this is a great opportunity for parents who would like Irish Medium education in their area. It is important that parents complete the survey and select an Irish Medium School under An Foras Pátrúnachta.” He went on to say that “we believe that every child has a right to Irish Medium Education if they so wish. This is an opportunity for parents to seek this right for their children.”
An Foras Pátrúnachta has been providing diversity and addressing parents wishes since it was founded in 1993. Comprehensive information relating to this process is available at An Foras Pátrúnachta’s website (www.foras.ie) and we will be available to provide information on the benefits of Irish Medium Education, the multi-denominational ethos and about us as a patron.
For media information, contact:
Caoimhín Ó hEaghra:: 01-6294110 :: eolas@foras.ie
Siobhán Seoighe :: 01-6294110 :: eolas@foras.ie
About An Foras Pátrúnachta:
AN FORAS PÁTRÚNACHTA is the largest patron of Irish medium schools in Ireland at both primary and secondary level. There are 61 primary schools and 3 secondary schools under its patronage. AN FORAS PÁTRÚNACHTA is a patron of Irish-medium schools that have a choice of a Catholic, Multidenominational and Interdenominational (Catholic / Protestant) ethos. The vision of AN FORAS PÁTRÚNACHTA is to develop, strengthen and promote education through the medium of Irish throughout the country. AN FORAS PÁTRÚNACHTA is recognized by the Department of Education and Science as a patronage system which is acceptable and appropriate for first and second level schools. AN FORAS PÁTRÚNACHTA was founded in 1993 so that new gaelscoileanna opening in the coming years would have another choice with regard to patronage.
For more information: www.foras.ie
Efforts to boost school patronage poll awareness
January 14, 2013
A wider information campaign is planned to promote a survey of parents on primary school choices after a mixed response to a trial survey before Christmas.
The Department of Education will send leaflets to every home in each of the 38 towns and suburbs where they want to find out how much demand there is for alternatives to the current provision of primary schools almost exclusively under religious patronage.
A more extensive campaign of radio and newspaper advertising is also planned after between 25% and 44% of eligible parents took part in the three-week exercise during November. It resulted in a recommendation that the Catholic bishops in all five areas make one of their local school buildings available for multi-denominational group Educate Together.
The body representing Catholic schools has said turnout was low and claims it means all those who did not take part are satisfied with current arrangements. A spokesperson for Education Minister Ruairi Quinn said participation was quite strong in the context of the low turnout in last year’s children’s referendum. However, the department has been asked to better promote awareness of the surveys by patrons who are interested in taking over Catholic schools, as they are restricted by a code of conduct around the survey to limited publicity spending.
The 38 areas where parents of all children up to the age of 12 are being asked for their views have 311 primary schools between them, or an average of around eight each. But the Department of Education says there are no primary schools in most of them besides those under the control of the local Catholic bishop or other religious patrons, and there is insufficient population growth for new schools to be built.
Kildare town has been removed from the list of areas being surveyed as an Educate Together school opened there in 2011 and a new gaelscoil is to be set up after evidence of demand put forward by all-Irish schools patron An Foras Pátrúnachta.
Both groups expressed interest in taking over any divested Catholic schools in most or all of the 38 remaining areas, with city or county vocational education committees interested in running primary schools in all of them.
Parents in three towns — Clonmel, Longford, and Monaghan — who would like more choice will also have the option of picking Rehab Group’s National Learning Network as an alternative patron. The Redeemed Christian Church of God, a Nigerian-founded church, is interested in running schools in Cobh, Dublin 6, Longford, and Shannon. The survey can be completed on the Department of Education website, or in a paper version on request, from today until Feb 8.
*The survey is online at www.education.ie and parents will need to give a PPS number for verification. A free helpline is also available 1800 303 621.
www.irishexaminer.com
