Scoil Mhuire debates its way to All Ireland win
Márta 26, 2013
After some tough talking as gaeilge, three sixth-year students from Scoil Mhuire in Cork have won the prestigious Gael Linn national debating competition, becoming the first Cork school to scoop the Irish language debating title.
Team captain Aisling Hourihan, Emma Dobson and Zoe Boland opposed the motion that the Irish people have lost their national identity. They interpreted identity as closely associated with culture, language, sport and homegrown Irish heroes with whom the nation identifies.
The team, coached by Samantha Mulcahy with help from teacher Eileen Dineen, argued convincingly, in their native tongue, the Irish still have a very strong national identity. They were presented with the Corn An Phiarsaigh and each girl also won a cash prize.
“The girls are a credit to the school and their families that they are so passionate about Irish language,” a Scoil Mhuire spokesperson said.
“It is a great honour and a credit for the school that they have become the first Cork school to win this competition.
“We are not an all-Irish language school but we do put huge emphasis on oral Irish and we are delighted to get recognition for that.”
The girls made it through to the national final after talking their way through the Munster round of competition opposing the motion ‘tá mórchinntí an rialtais seo ar leas an náisiúin’ —that this Government’s major decisions are benefiting the nation — and defeating Presentation College, The Mardyke, Cork, Pobalscoil Eoin Baiste, Hospital, Co Limerick, and Laurel Hill Secondary School, Limerick.
www.irishexaminer.com
Irish deserves strong support
Márta 20, 2013
Your editorial (Mar 13) would be comical if it were not so ill-informed.
You offer no evidence for the alleged €1 billion annual spend on Irish. How is this quantified? Is money spent on childcare (good) through the medium of Irish (bad) included? Are schools which don’t teach Irish for more that 20 minutes a day included?
You quote the budget of TG4, which gave us Ireland’s first teen drama and myriad quality TV shows, in comparison with RTÉ Two, for example, which costs much more and adds very little to viewer choice in its rebroadcasting of foreign shows.
Is money spent on gaelscoileanna a spend on education (good) or on Irish (bad)? Does it cost more to ensure that public servants serving Irish speaking areas are bilingual? Answer: No.
Our appalling English-only attitude has left us the odd man out in Europe with no respect for either our own history, culture and language or that of anyone else. Consumerism has not lead to happiness. Self-confidence and self-worth will. Time to see the value of our language, and of ourselves.
Irish has no intrinsic monetary value or use, much like Shakespeare, ballet and laughter. Irish is not much used in working life, like calculus, integration or the history of WWII.
Are we all to be trained to be unthinking cogs in a wheel? Each language is a different way of thinking. We need to think in a different way. And had you checked the record you would see that more Irish is spoken in the European Parliament that Maltese, Estonian or Latvian.
Dáithí Mac Cárthaigh BL
Law Library
Dublin 7
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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
The Irish language: Throwing good money after bad?
Márta 13, 2013
The Irish language has played a central role in shaping our culture.
Its influence is so deep-rooted that it has nurtured Hiberno-English — an Irish solution to an English imposition. Because of our history it, like other suppressed languages, has been afforded a political status, an assumed patriotic integrity, replicated in other countries once colonised. Whether this is permanent or even relevant today is an open question. Despite that, and despite the great emotional and almost spiritual attachment some Irish people feel for the language, it has not been central to Irish life for over a century.
Nevertheless, the 2011 census recorded a 7.1% increase in the number of self-declared Irish speakers. Some 1.77m people said they could speak Irish. However, and this seems more pertinent, only 1.8% used it every day outside of the education system. This marginalisation was highlighted yesterday when An Coimisinéir Teanga launched his annual report in Galway. Coimisinéir Seán Ó Cuirreáin revealed that gardaí are to get a laminated card carrying useful phrases in Irish. This follows instances where a garda competent enough in Irish to deal with the public through Irish was not immediately to hand. It is estimated that we spend something around €1bn a year just teaching Irish. Other programmes add to that cost. Foras na Gaeilge supports 19 Irish promotion organisations with state funding. Television service TG4 got €32.75m in current funding from Government last year. Its audience stands at something around 2% of the population. Raidió na Gaeltachta has, it is believed, an even smaller audience though official figures are not available. It may be assumed that funding for RnaG pushes the bill for Irish language broadcasting towards the €50m mark for just these two outlets. Gaelscoileanna have been enthusiastically supported though whether this reflects a commitment to the language or something else is uncertain. So successful are they that they may be the source of a new urban Irish apparently incomprehensible to some native speakers.
Though Irish was afforded official language status by the EU in 2007 a recent report suggested the language had been spoken just nine times by ministers at EU meetings in the last two years. In the EU parliament Irish took up just 0.23% of the speaking time during plenary sessions up to May 2012. Even if the country was not bankrupt this litany of failure would have to be considered. That we spend as much as the current round of Croke Park talks hope to save on teaching Irish every year — €1bn — seems at least irrational in today’s circumstances. Economic criteria should not be the primary consideration on this largely cultural issue but maybe it is time to be less reverential, less deferential on the subject. After all, the facts speak for themselves — if Irish was as important to people as some would suggest it would not need huge, ongoing ubvention to register the tiniest blip on society’s radar, it would be almost self-sustaining if not regenerating. Current policies have failed and it’s time to ask why we keep throwing good money after bad. Doing that would not be an attack on Irish just an admission that the vast majority of the population seem to be at best indifferent on the subject and that the billions we have spent on trying to popularise the language have been largely wasted.
www.irishexaminer.com
‘Examine restriction of teacher applicants’
Márta 11, 2013
The Department of Education’s chief inspector has suggested looking at restricting the numbers going into teaching as a possible way of keeping up standards in the profession.
Questions have been raised about regulating intake to teacher-training degrees, as the 3,000-plus annual graduates have had more difficulty in recent years finding work because of education cutbacks. The rise in teaching graduates without work because of these cuts, along with reduced pay for the profession, may be behind a fall of almost 20% in numbers listing teacher-training courses as their first choice on college application forms. The department’s chief inspector, Harold Hislop, said that, although high-calibre candidates are still applying to teaching courses, international research suggests that restricting access to the profession and the overall entrant numbers have advantages for the long-term good of teaching and schools.
“Whether by failing to control entry properly we may damage quality is a question about which we have not had an informed and thorough debate in Ireland, and is one that we may need to consider,” he told a recent symposium on teacher education at University College Cork. There may be a temporary drop in newly qualified teachers in years to come as teacher education reforms see degrees extended by a year, meaning a gap in output from some courses. A range of mergers is planned among teacher-training colleges, and Mr Hislop said having a smaller number of larger teacher education institutions will help enhance teachers’ skills and the profession’s status.
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School board sacked for enrolling extra class without approval
Feabhra 13, 2013
A primary school board has been sacked by its patron for enrolling an extra infant class last September without approval.
Education Minister Ruairi Quinn approved the dissolution by An Foras Pátrúnachta of the board of management at Gaelscoil Uí Drisceoil in Glanmire, Co Cork, before Christmas. The all-Irish schools’ patron body has put two managers in place in the meantime but plans are being made to put a new board in place shortly.
The school moved from the rugby club where it first opened in 2006 to a former hotel building in Dunkettle 2011. But a board decision early last year to take in three infant classes in September was made without the patron’s approval.
It did not have sanction either from the Department of Education to change from a previous intake of two junior infant classes to three, as it would not need to pay an additional teacher if the extra 20 to 30 children were enrolled instead across other schools in the area. The department confirmed it had discussions last year with the school, which now has around 300 pupils up to fifth class.
“The school were advised that, based on the department’s analysis of pupil numbers in the Riverstown/Glanmire catchment area, there was sufficient school accommodation capacity available to cater for pupil place demand. In that regard, the school authority accepted that the long-term size of the school should remain at 16 classes,” a spokesperson told the Irish Examiner.
The possibility of appeals over refusal to enrol meant the three classes were allowed enrol last autumn, but the patron body asked each board member in July for an explanation of their role.
It is understood Mr Quinn approved the board’s dissolution in November following a request from An Foras, under a section of the 1998 Education Act that can be used where a patron believes a board is not discharging its functions effectively. An Foras Pátrúnachta did not comment on the situation when contacted by the Irish Examiner yesterday.
Aside from the enrolment issue, there were longer-running tensions between the board and patron body over the teaching of religion. An Foras said its multi-denominational ethos means no faith-specific religion should be taught during school hours, but children of different faiths were being taught separately for the first 20 minutes of each day since the school opened in 2006.
The patron called a halt to this in late 2011, despite the arguments of the board and many staff and parents that the established practice should be allowed continue.
“We told the Foras last year we wanted things to stay the same. It was operating fine until this happened out of the blue at the end of 2011,” said one parent who asked not to be named.
The teaching of denominational religion during school hours is now forbidden, but Catholic and Humanist teaching is available before or after school for parents who want it for their children.
www.irishexaminer.com
My wife can vote on school patronage issue, but I can’t
Eanáir 28, 2013
Niall Murray’s (Jan 22) news report of Professor Eamonn Conway’s accurate assessment that few parents want a change of school patronage deserves further analysis.
As a parent, who voted in the Killarney survey, I was dismayed to learn from Department officials that my vote would not be counted because it is my wife who receives child benefit.
Only half of parents, those in receipt of child benefit, have a right to vote. I was more dismayed to learn that the Department has concocted a protocol that forbids any formal meetings of parents to debate the merits of Education Minister Ruairi Quinn’s very radical proposals for the Catholic Church to surrender 50% of its schools to other patrons.
I fear that democracy is dead.
Alan Whelan
Beaufort, Co Kerry
www.irishexaminer.com
Efforts to boost school patronage poll awareness
Eanáir 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.
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School does enrolment U-turn after 20 appeals
Eanáir 11, 2013
A Cork all-Irish school has reversed its decision not to enrol a third first-year class next September after more than 20 appeals were made to the Department of Education.
Gaelcholáiste Mhuire in the North Monastery — the city’s only northside all-Irish secondary school — was accused of changing the goalposts when about 50 of the 110-plus applicants to start there later this year were refused enrolment before Christmas.
While management were keen to accommodate three classes, the Edmund Rice Schools Trust which owns the school wanted to restrict numbers to avoid putting strain on the school’s facilities. The trustees want any expansion to be managed properly so that the necessary building works would be carried out to meet any rising demand for the school, which is under the same ownership as the adjoining North Monastery Secondary School.
But public representatives and parents claimed they were led to understand when applying last autumn that there would be three first-year classes, the same as in three of the last four years.
After a series of meetings over the last month between the board, parents, and the trustees, a decision has now been made to admit the third class.
It means good news for 28 boys and girls who had been refused a place, most of whom are understood to have lodged appeals to the Department of Education.
The chair of the school’s board of management, Paul Moynihan, said it had been working with the trustees to resolve a number of issues.
“The trustees held a number of concerns as regards the capacity of the school to accommodate the numbers that were being proposed for the 2013/14 academic year. Until these concerns were satisfied the trustees were unwilling to approve increased numbers,” he said.
“The necessary assurances have now been given by school management to the trustees that has enabled them to give their approval to the admission of increased numbers.” Local councillor Tom Gould said the development was good news.
“I think common sense has prevailed, it’s the right decision for the children. It’s a fabulous school with a great reputation and that is why places are so sought after and hopefully work can be done over the next year to ensure we won’t be facing the same situation again.”
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