Daltaí ag baint ardmharcanna Gaeilge amach sna GCSEanna
August 30, 2010
Gaelscoil Ráth Tó on TV3 News
August 30, 2010
News clip available to view here.
Tuilleadh daltaí de dhíth!
August 27, 2010
Buntáiste Breise na Gaeilge ar chamchuairt!
August 25, 2010
Young Gaeilgeoirs hopeful about Gaeltacht’s future
August 24, 2010
Earlier this year, a leading scholar in language planning visited Pobalscoil Ghaoth Dobhair to discuss the future of Irish.
The researcher was one of the authors of the comprehensive 2007 report on the use of Irish in the Gaeltacht, which found that unless there were major changes in language-use patterns, Irish would cease to be the predominant community and family language in the Gaeltacht in 15 to 20 years.
Recently, two Leaving Certificate students at the pobalscoil discussed their own hopes for the language. Brídín Ní Mhaoldomhnaigh and Simon MacGiolla Easpaig, both 18, each received student of the year honours at the school’s awards night earlier this year. They served on the Donegal Youth Council, and they are musicians with An Crann Óg, the Gaoth Dobhair-based group of young trad musicians.
This summer they are working at the summer camp at An Chrannóg, the community and cultural centre in Gaoth Dobhair. In the autumn, Brídín plans to study theatre/performance studies and Irish, and Simon plans to study law and politics. Both said their identity as Gaeilgeoirs underscores everything they do. Their cultural involvement goes hand in hand with their commitment to the language, Simon said, adding, “One complements the other.”
And while they recognise all young people their age do not share their passion for the language, they have also considered ways of improving the way Irish is taught and promoted that could encourage younger people to embrace and speak Irish.
As an example, Simon pointed to the work of RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta presenter Rónán Mac Aodha Bhuí, whose programme “Rónán Beo @ 3” offers a very contemporary look at news and feature stories, music, culture, politics and humour. “We need to have more shows and radio programmes like that,” Simon said. TG4’s wealth of animated programming in Irish caters for the very young, and documentaries and dramas attract more mature audiences. But there are fewer offerings for teens. Adolescents, around age 13 and 14, want their peers to consider them cool, and Irish is not always seen as a part of that, Brídín said. “Certain courses need to be modernized,” she said.
Both young people welcomed the increased emphasis on spoken Irish in the new curriculum. “A vital part of learning any language is the ability to speak it,” Simon said. He said that his blood boiled when he watched the RTÉ programme Frontline earlier this year and listened to people who were unable to speak Irish after studying it in school. He attributed that to courses that emphasised the final examination, rather than the long-term benefits of speaking Irish.
“Education should be with you for life, not just for the exam,” he said. Brídín’s mother, Bríd Ní Bhaiceir Uí Mhaoldomhnaigh, taught Irish at Loreto Letterkenny, “and really helped us appreciate the language,” Brídín said. Bríd encouraged them to participate in public speaking, recitations and drama, and wrote Irish pieces and dramas for Brídín. A new trophy in Bríd’s memory was presented at this year’s Éigse Uladh for the best new poem in the recitation competition.
“She did a lot to promote Irish,” Brídín said. Bríd died earlier this year, and Brídín said that some of mother’s former students have told her of the impact Bríd’s teaching had on their appreciation for the language. “Things like that show what can be done,” Brídín said. Irish is a living, community language at An Chrannóg. The staff at the centre and the young people who work at the camp always speak to each other in Irish.
“There’s a certain amount of pride among our age group in the language,” Simon said. But they understand that some of their contemporaries have returned to Gaoth Dobhair from other countries, and are not fluent. “It’s an uphill struggle for them and we have to accommodate them,” Simon said. He said sometimes people find a new appreciation for Irish when they leave the Gaeltacht. Or they find it when they are abroad and want to talk about people without being understood, Brídín said, and Simon laughed and nodded in agreement.
Both appreciate the need for people to speak English. But they were passionate about the importance of promoting Irish.
Earlier this year when Conchúr Ó Giollagáin, head of the language planning unit at Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge, Co. na Gaillimhe, was at the pobalscoil, he said now was the time for change. “Hopefully some day we will come out of the economic recession, but linguistic crises don’t wait,” he said. “They have to be solved when they occur. Twenty years down the road will be too late.”
He described a stark future: “A laissez-faire attitude toward current policy endeavours will see the demise of the Gaeltacht as a linguistic and cultural entity,” Conchúr said.
Brídín and Simon remain hopeful about the future of Gaeltacht. Simon said that he does not think there will be much change in the Gaeltacht in 10 years’ time. He does not see a great surge, but he does not see a great decline, either. Though sometimes he wishes he were better able to help others to feel as passionately as he feels about the language.
Brídín spoke of a recent night at the local GAA, where about 80 per cent of the young people who signed in had signed their names in Irish. “It was good to see,” she said. She mentioned a 4-year-old girl whose first language was Irish and what had difficulties with English. Brídín knows the girl will learn English, but she was delighted to see a youngster so immersed in Irish.
“It lifts your spirits,” she said. And she says she will remain hopeful.
“You can’t get anywhere without hope,” Brídín said. “I hope people realise how precious it is to have our own language.”
Donegal Democrat – Carolyn Farrar
19 Lúnasa 2010
Maoiniú de €22,500 ceadaithe do thrí scoil
August 13, 2010
Próiseas nua maidir le haitheantas meánscoileanna fógartha
August 12, 2010
Good news for gaelscoil
August 12, 2010
Gaelscoil Mhic Amhlaigh is to move to the next stage of its building plans, following a decision by the Department of Education. Galway West TD Noel Grealish and Galway City Councillor Donal Lyons have welcomed the decision by the department to approve Gaelscoil Mhic Amhlaigh to move to the next planning stage, which includes planning permission, Fire Safety Certificate and Disability Access Certificate.
“I recently discussed the school’s plans at a meeting with An Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Science Mary Coughlan and I asked her to move the project forward as quickly as possible,” said Deputy Grealish.
“An Tanaiste has now informed me that she has given approval to the school to advance with their building plans,” he said, adding that this is good news for the parents, teachers and pupils of Gaelscoil Mhic Amhlaigh.
Galway City Councillor Donal Lyons has also welcomed the decision.
“In September, this school will have 440 pupils and half of these will be housed in portacabins,” he said.
“This announcement means that the school can now proceed with their plans for eight new classrooms at the school, which will significantly improve facilities for teachers and children,” Cllr Lyons concluded.
Galway Independent
04 Iúil 2010
Béim curtha ar ról na nEagras i dTuarascáil an Chomhchoiste
August 12, 2010
Monaghan barracks to become €20 million education campus
August 12, 2010
Work is to start early next year on a €20 million education campus on the site of a former army barracks in Monaghan town, which closed last year.
The 20-acre site has been acquired for €3.1million by Monaghan VEC, which is managing the plan for the country’s first integrated educational campus. It will be home to Monaghan Institute of Further Education, a gaelscoil, gaelcholÁiste and an Irish language pre-school, as well as a theatre, gym and sports fields.
Martin O’Brien, chief executive of Monaghan VEC, said the project had the full backing of the government and should have its first intake of students in September 2012. A Dublin firm, Oppermann Architects, has been appointed to lead the design team for the project, and a feasibility study on what could be built on the site is almost complete.
O’Brien said a planning application for the project would be submitted to Monaghan County Council around October.
He is hopeful that planning permission could be granted by next January, allowing work to begin on the site in early spring. ‘‘We have the site, and the different government departments have come together to support us,” O’Brien said. ‘‘We have talked to the county council and looked at roads planning, so we know what the council will require on an application. Now we are working on pre-qualifying building contractors, so we can move quickly once permission is granted.”
He said the project would cost at least €20 million, although that might be ‘‘a bit on the small side’’.
Despite poor economic conditions, he said he was confident that funding would be available to allow the campus to go ahead as planned.
‘‘I met the Taoiseach last week and the first thing he asked me was how things were going with the proposal,” O’Brien said. ‘‘We have given a commitment to four or five ministers on this, and the local people.
There is no way we are going to let anyone down.” ‘‘This really is going to be a turning point for education in this country. It is up to the VEC to step up and make the running on this.
We are going to deliver this,” said O’Brien. He said the plan would address a ‘‘deficit of sites for education’’ in Monaghan.
He said that funding had already been agreed for a new gaelscoil, as the existing school in the town was in ‘‘inadequate accommodation’’. The Irish pre-school is attached to the gaelscoil and recently sought to be included in the move to the barracks site on the Armagh Road.
The second-level gaelcoláiste was set up about five years ago and is operating from a rented premises. It has 185 students enrolled for September, but is taking in about 65 students each year and will soon be a school of almost 400 students.
Monaghan Institute of Further Education has 550 students but is also using rented accommodation, including some at St Davnet’s psychiatric hospital.
The institute has already been using some of the army barracks buildings since the last soldiers left in January 2009.
The closure of the base after almost 25 years was part of a move, announced by the government in October 2008, to save money by shutting five army facilities. O’Brien said the VEC plan for the site originated in the same week as the closure and after he had met Tánaiste Mary Coughlan.
‘‘I was introduced to the Tánaiste and wanted to find out about the barracks, because I had concerns about what might happen to the site,” he said. ‘‘She said that if we made a submission that represented value for money, it would get consideration from the government.”
When he first launched the education plan at a VEC meeting, ‘‘some people said it was crazy’’, according to O’Brien. However, a VEC committee of about 24 people was formed, representing abroad sweep of the community, including political and church representatives.
A delegation met the then minister for education, Batt O’Keeffe, for what O’Brien described as ‘‘a very productive meeting’’.
The committee then drew up estimates of what the site and the development would cost, and made a submission to government. On November 30, Taoiseach Brian Cowen visited Monaghan and gave the go-ahead to the plan. He asked the VEC to manage the project and ‘‘came with the money’’ for the VEC to buy the site, O’Brien said. ‘‘It is bought and paid for. We have the full deeds.”
He said that ‘‘major work’’ had been done on the project since then, including hiring legal advisers, project managers, and archaeological and topographical experts. ‘‘We worked through the Christmas holidays and we worked a half-day on St Patrick’s Day,” he said.
As well as the departments of Defence and Education, O’Brien has had contact with the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport, which is co-funding the theatre on the site. ‘‘We have got a very fair hearing and good support everywhere we went,” he said.
The project took a big step forward last month with the appointment of Oppermann to lead the design team. It will work with Hawkins Brown, an architecture firm in London.
Oppermann has worked on a number of education projects, including Ballyfermot Senior College and Coláiste I’de in Dublin, as well as primary and secondary schools around the country. Its private sector work includes shopping centres, restaurants, hotels and spa facilities.
O’Brien said the campus could lead the regeneration of Monaghan, which has been hit by people going to the North to shop, as well as historical associations with the border. Consideration is being given to incorporating a pedestrian walkway on the site, which backs onto the Ulster Canal and is ‘‘a beautiful amenity’’, according to the VEC head.
The plan for the barracks site also showed the kind of role that VECs could play, at a time when there was pressure to rationalise or integrate state bodies, he said. The VEC has not taken on any extra staff to deal with the project and was ‘‘happy to do it’’.
‘‘We don’t want anything for nothing. Everybody has been frozen solid [by the recession], but there is no point sitting on your backside. No one is going to do it for you,” said O’Brien.
The Sunday Business Post – Gavin Daly
01 Lúnasa 2010
