Surge In Demand For Seats At Irish Language Primary Schools (Gaelscoil)

The Irish Independent in an article on it's web page under the headline "The Number Of Children Learning Through Irish has Trebbled in Two Decades", report on a surge in demand for placement at Irish language medium schools (Gaelscoil).  This development is a pleasing sign of the steady progress being made in reclaiming for the language its rightful place.  It is those that are now children who will seize back all that was taken from Ireland, but first we must take back the tongue.

The numbers are impressive.  The article states that there are now over 45,000 children attending classes where the medium of education is Gaelic. It goes on to say the tongue is "booming" in the suburbs of Dublin as young couples seek out an Irish education for their children.  These are areas that have not seen children taught in Irish for generations. The principal of a Gaelscoil in the Dublin suburb of Stepaside, Conchur O' Raghallaigh, makes the following observation on what drives parents to seek out an education which will give their children Irish language proficiency:  "Many parents grew up with a negative attitude towards the language because of the way its taught.  However, they now feel a sense of regret and really want their children to learn Irish."

But with this limited success comes new challenges.  For as the number of Gealic schools increase and the number of students who graduate from Irish language primary school increase, they and their parents are facing a shortage in availabilty of second-level education in the medium of Irish.  Caomin O'h Eaghra, General Secretary of "An Foras Patrunachta", an organisation founded in 1993 to foster Irish medium education, has sounded the alarm on the need for the government to address the looming shortage of slots in second-level Irish medium education; "We now have a lot of parents who want a second-level Gaolchlaiste, but there are none in their area."

http://www.gaelport.com/foraspatrunachtaeng

http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/education/watch-out-barla-its-the-stepaside-gaeltacht-29749606.html

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