Promoting Irish amongst new immigrants
April 19, 2011
This year Metro Éireann multicultural awards will highlight the work of organisations and individuals who promote the Irish language amongst new immigrants.
Foras na Gaeilge are sponsoring a special award which will be presented at the Metro Éireann awards ceremony which honours individuals, groups, companies and journalists who promote crosscultural understanding.
The MAMAs were founded in 2002 by Ireland’s first multicultural newspaper, Metro Éireann and this year are sponsored by An Post, Dublin City Council Office for Integration, Foras na Gaeilge, The Irish Times and MK Design Studio.
The awards will be presented in ten main categories, Multicultural and Media, and applications are invited from the public, state and private sectors, as well as from print, broadcast, visual, online and student media.
Further information at www.mamaawards.com.
©Foilsithe ar Gaelport.com 19 Aibreán 2011
Lá na Naíonraí
April 18, 2011
Caitriona Ruane faces challenge over bus fund decision
April 14, 2011
Education Minister Caitriona Ruane is facing a High Court challenge over the refusal to fund a bus service to Northern Ireland’s only post-primary Irish language school.
The board of governors at Colaiste Feirste in west Belfast is seeking a judicial review of her department’s decision not to financially back a pilot transport scheme for pupils coming from Downpatrick, Co Down. A judge was told the service would encourage more children to attend and help increase the use of Irish language. Michael Lavery QC, appearing for the school’s vice-chairperson, Colma McKee, said: “The more children that we can get to be educated through the medium of Irish the more you are achieving the objective of the Good Friday Agreement and the statute.” The decision not to fund the service for 11 pupils who travel from Downpatrick to Colaiste Feirste was taken last September on the basis of an economic assessment.
Belfast Telegraph
Lá eolais do na polaiteoirí
April 14, 2011
Can You Turn Your Community Into TG4’s Next Top Irish Speaking Town?
April 12, 2011
TG4 and Adare Productions are producing a brand new series where non-Gaeltacht community’s can compete against each other for the opportunity to call themselves The G-Team winners 2011 and win a €40,000 Foras na Gaeilge prize to use in promoting their local area. This new and innovative programme will be sponsored by Foras Na Gaeilge.
‘The G-Team’ is a new 10 part series on TG4 that will feature non-Irish speaking communities from all over Ireland and challenge them to begin using their native tongue in their daily routines. Can your local butcher sell the Sunday roast in Irish? Can your local parents learn enough of the language to read their kids a bedtime story?
We are currently looking for Irish speaking Team Leaders in each region to put their town forward and spearhead their community’s effort as they work towards their very own G -Day (Gaeilge) Day.
G-Day is the day where the cameras will descend to watch the town in action as they hold a festival and use every effort throughout the day to use the Irish language. The team leaders will be across all aspects of their preparations leading up to and including their G-Day. The team leaders will also be responsible for encouraging their town to embrace the G-Team challenge and use Irish in their daily routine in the weeks leading up to their G-Day and beyond.
Are you a team leader? Do you live in a community that would benefit and embrace The G-Team challenge? Can you organise, focus and drive your local community to put their best foot forward and compete in a truly national competition? If so, we want to hear from you…
On the 11th of April 2011 the G-Team application form will go ‘live’ via the TG4 website. Starting on that day, for a 2-week period only, applications will be invited. We are looking for team leaders from any and all non-Gaeltacht towns from all across the country to apply.
Meet the ‘G-Team’ judges:
Lorcán Mac Gabhann
Lorcán has spent periods employed in the following Irish language organisations; Conradh na Gaeilge, Ógras, Bord na Gaeilge, Foras na Gaeilge agus since 2001 is employed sa CEO of Glór na Gael. He is a founding member of Gaelscoil Thaobh na Coille, Dublin 18, and is Chairperson since 1995. He was a member of the Board of Directors, and Treasurer, of Gaelscoileanna Teo from 2000 – 2004. He is a member of the Board of Directors, and Chairperson for 3 years, of the school patronage body, Foras Patrúnachta na Scoileanna lánGhaeilge since 1996.
Rossa Ó Snodaigh
Rossa, musician and Irish language activist, is a founding member of Irish language rock band “Kila”. He was also the driving force behind the setting up of a Gaelscoil in his local area, Cluainín Uí Ruairc/Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim. Rossa was instrumental in setting up the Speaker’s Square in Dublin’s Temple Bar area and each year organises the Irish language tent at Electric Picnic.
Mary Hanafin
Mary Hanafin is a former secondary school teacher of Irish and history. She was a TD for 14 years and over the course of her political life was Minister for Education and Science (2004–08), Minister for Social and Family Affairs (2008–10), Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport (2010–11) and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation (2011).
For further information, please contact:
Adare Productions on 01 2843877
Which are the fastest growing schools – and which are down?
April 12, 2011
Which schools have seen a surge in pupil numbers over the past decade and which are most popular with parents, writes SEAN FLYNN
SCHOOL ENROLMENT figures provide a fascinating glimpse in parental choice. They help track which schools are seen as ‘successful’ and which ones are struggling to fill numbers. The lists published on this page track a decade of change in Irish education. They compare school enrolment figures for this school year with the position a decade ago.
The main features of the list include: – “Free’’ State-run schools which experienced a drop in enrolment during the Celtic Tiger have managed to reverse this trend in recent years. – Many VEC schools – especially those outside of Dublin are booming. Irish language schools have seen a surge in pupil numbers. – The popularity of fee-paying schools remains very resilient despite fees averaging €5,000 per year; – Schools which perform well in The Irish Times Feeder School Lists have shown a surge in pupil numbers.
Another feature of the data is the surge in pupil numbers in the post-Leaving Certificate colleges; these cater for students in the year or two after they leave secondary school. In Dublin alone, colleges of further education in Dún Laoghaire, Killester, Sallynoggin and Dundrum have seen enrolment increase by at least 50 per cent over the past decade. The fastest growing school on the list is Coláiste Chiaráin, Croom, about 20 minutes from Limerick city. On its hugely impressive website, it describes itself as the “school of the future.” In 2004, the headmaster, Noel Malone was awarded the Dell Technology Award for Excellence in Education, the first recipient outside the US. Remarkably, virtually a huge majority of of the top 30 fastest growing schools in the State are all in the VEC sector. All of these schools challenge those lazy cliches about the VEC.
The fastest growing school in Dublin is St Colmcille’s Community School in Knocklyon, an area of rapid population growth. Like many community schools in Dublin, the school has built a very strong local reputation since it was opened in 2000. The second-fastest growing school in Dublin is St Kevins CBS in Finglas is an interesting case study. The school suffered a severe decline in enrolment for decades but it has managed to dramatically turn this around in recent years.
Other Dublin schools which have reversed a decline in enrolment include Oatlands College, Stillorgan. Pupil numbers are up from 340 to over 500 and there is a long waiting list. This comes after a period during the boom when the school was squeezed by the huge number of “big brand” fee-paying schools in the area. Overall, the picture for Christian Brothers schools in Dublin is a mixed one. While places like St Kevin’s are booming, schools like O’Connells, St Joseph’s in Fairview and St Paul’s in Raheny are continuing to see declining pupil numbers. Many of these schools have been hugely successful in integrating newcomer children. Another school worthy of mention is St Brendan’s College, Dunboyne, Co Meath which has registered growth of 58 per cent in enrolment. St Brendan’s was featured on the successful RTÉ documentary The School last year.
Among fee-paying schools, the most striking feature is the 28 per cent growth registered by one of the more expensive schools in the State – St Gerard’s in Bray, Co Wicklow. Most of the big name schools have seen growth over the past decade including Gonzaga (up 11 per cent), Belvedere and CUS (both up 10 per cent ) and Blackrock College (up 4 per cent).
The published lists are based on Department of Education figures for the 2001-02 school year and the current school year. The percentage increase/decrease quoted represents the growth/decline in pupil numbers.
All schools with less than 200 pupils in either 2001 or 2010/11 have been excluded from the lists on this page – except for fee-paying schools. Broadly new schools in new areas have also been excluded.
Data on enrolment patterns in PLCs is available on irishtimes.com
The Irish Times
New D15 website
April 12, 2011
A new website to promote and support the Irish language in the Dublin 15 area has been launched recently by a young Laurel Lodge man.
A lover of the language, Darren Mac an Phríora, has been involved in a number of projects to promote its use over the past number of years and the new website, bac15.blogspot.com, is already attracting a large number of hits from like-minded enthusiasts. Darren is a former Dublin committee member of the Cork-based Irish language marketing organisation Gael-Taca and one of his projects in that organisation was to arrange for the erection of Irish language signs in the Dublin 15 area. According to Darren, “I put up Irish language signs in around 30 places in Dublin 15 when I was in Gael-Taca. I am hoping to use the new website to highlight these places and the places who have their own Irish language signage such as Myos and the Roselawn Inn.”
Darren, who has a degree in journalism and presents a current affairs programme in Irish on NearFM, said “the site is a community website to support the Irish language in Dublin 15. I want other people to hopefully be inspired so that they can do the same work in other parts of Dublin and Ireland.” Stories covered on the site to date include news of the new Gaelscoil proposed for Dublin 15; a new naionra (playschool) in Tyrellstown; well known Irish speakers living in the Dublin 15 area; a new Irish language GAA club and much more besides. Anyone who wants to contribute to the site or would like further information can e-mail Darren (darrenjmacanphriora@gmail.com).
Community Voice – Fergus Lynch
Cruinniú Ginearálta faoi na Painéil Múinteoireachta
April 11, 2011
Seirbhís Chúnaimh d’Fhostaithe sínte amach chuig Pinsinéirí
April 11, 2011
Small is beautiful as country areas fight to retain schools
April 11, 2011
First the post offices closed, then the pubs. Are the last outposts of rural life doomed?
The new Minister for Education, Ruairi Quinn, is likely to face one of his toughest political battles as his department moves to shut down tiny rural schools. Local communities will fight a rearguard action to retain small village schools, which are under threat of closure from recommendations in Colm McCarthy’s An Bord Snip report. The McCarthy report said there was scope to cut the number of primary schools. The report stated that there were 659 primaries with fewer than 50 pupils. If these were merged with other schools, Colm McCarthy estimated that this would save 300 teachers, or about EUR18m in annual salary costs. Further mergers of the 851 schools in the 50-100 pupil category would cut the number of teachers by 200, and save another EUR9m annually, according the McCarthy report.
Alarm bells have started ringing across rural Ireland over the past month as the department starts a ‘Value for Money Review of Small Primary Schools’. Figures provided by the Department of Education appear to show that many small schools are unsustainable. The 2010 figures showed that there were 15 schools with fewer than 10 pupils. Mantua National School near Elphin in Co Roscommon is believed to be one of the smallest in the country, with just six pupils. The Roscommon Herald reported last week that it was one of 41 primaries in the county with fewer than 50 children. Shutting down or merging small schools may look like a simple matter, but it is a political and administrative minefield. The savings may be much more limited than those envisaged in the McCarthy report, while the social costs are likely to be huge. Pat Goff, president of the Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN), said: “There is no educational reason for shutting down small rural schools. All the evidence suggests that children do just as well or perform better in them. “When you shut down a school you are killing part of the rural community. Many communities have been left without a post office and a garda station. All that is left is the school.”
While it is inevitable that tiny schools will disappear, Pat Goff says there will be a lot of practical difficulties with large-scale closures. “In the short-term, there are likely to be extra costs involved, including new accommodation and transport.” If two primaries merge, the department may have to pay for extra classrooms. There is also the practical problem of staffing arrangements for the merged schools. Under the current system, when two schools amalgamate, both principals are retained; one is head of the school and the other is a “privileged assistant”. The INTO supports amalgamation of schools where this is the clear wish of the school community. But the INTO’s general secretary Sheila Nunan said financial issues should not be the only concern. She said: “Other considerations must be taken into account such as the adverse effect for the child who is being bussed to a different environment, the importance of the rural school to the community, and its role in the preservation of local history, culture, and folklore.” There are other complex issues that the Department of Education will have to deal with when considering the closure of small schools. Some small schools are under the patronage of the Church of Ireland, and there may not be a similar one within easy reach.
The INTO opposes amalgamation where the language of instruction in one school is English, and the other Irish. There is widespread acceptance that Irish in Gaeltacht areas was weakened in the 1960s and 1970s when different types of school were merged. Pat Goff of the IPPN said any programme of closures should be considered in conjunction with moves to take schools out of Catholic control. Many small schools have only recently been refurbished and provided with new buildings. Does it make sense to close these upgraded facilities? Helen Carroll, the Ear to the Ground presenter, sends her nine-year-old daughter Katie to a small 51-pupil national school in Johnswell near her home Co Kilkenny. “It is absolutely vital for the health of the local community that schools such as this are retained. It provides a very good education. “My daughter gets the sort of personal attention that you mightn’t get in a bigger school,” she says. Helen Carroll believes that there is an onus on parents to support their local schools. “People do not realise how important the local school or post office is to a rural community until it is gone, and then it is too late.” Ruairi Quinn will be keen to make savings, but he may tread warily when shutting down schools. As one seasoned observer of the education scene noted, “There is maximum political pain involved in this, and very little financial gain.”
Irish Independent
