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Wednesday, 28 July 2010

Row over new Irish-medium schools

Approvals have been granted for four new Irish-medium primary schools

Conditional approvals have been given for the establishment of four new grant-aided Irish-medium primary schools, despite concerns over empty spaces in existing premises.

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Education Minister Caitríona Ruane says the new schools are needed to facilitate the "growing number of children" choosing to be taught in Irish.

The schools are Gaelscoil an tSeanchaí in Magherafelt, Gaelscoil na mBeann in Kilkeel, Gaelscoil Léim an Mhadaidh in Limavady and Gaelscoil Choin Rí Uladhin in Ballymena.

All four have a proposed opening date set for September.

"Demand from parents for Irish-medium education for their children has been growing for many years and the proposals for these new schools reflect that demand," the Sinn Fein minister said.

"I am therefore giving these four new schools conditional approval because I believe they will ensure that the choice of primary education through the medium of Irish is available to a growing number of children."

The Minister added that recurrent funding for the schools will depend on a required number of admissions being reached.

"Recurrent funding for all four schools will be conditional on the schools achieving the required admissions threshold.

"Any future capital funding will also be conditional on the schools being vested by the Department of Education when the schools have proven their long-term viability.

"Schools will also be required to put in place robust measures to ensure adequate leadership and governance arrangements in co-operation with statutory bodies."

The proposals have been supported by Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta, as part of a strategic plan to develop sustainable Irish-medium schools in larger catchment areas.

But Ulster Unionist MLA Tom Elliott said the decision raises questions whether there are "different rules for different sectors".

"In June Catriona Ruane announced that numerous new builds and improvement schemes would not go ahead because 'we simply cannot build schools without money," he said.

"There is also a £300m backlog in maintenance for our existing schools.

"With this announcement the Minister is clearly sending out mixed messages."

DUP Education Spokesman Mervyn Storey has also hit out at the move.

"People will be bemused by the Minister blindly throwing more and more money towards Irish language education in such a challenging public spending climate. No doubt the Minister will use her warped view of equality as justification," he said.

"There are pressures across all sectors and particularly in education the common sense approach would be to rationalise rather than incur extra costs."

Mr Storey says that among the 22 existing Irish language primary schools, there are already almost 1,000 empty spaces.

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13 Comments

At 14:18 on 02 August 2010, big ernest wrote:

seamus ; how is this not a political issue ? are you for real ? the money being funded is from the government so it is political as far as the rest of the country see's it !! seamus it is ok supporting it , let the schools get their own funding , as i have stated very very few speak it , especially day to day , more money wasted on education when truth be told it should be used to upgrade schools that need it more . irish language act is a joke by the way !!

At 19:14 on 29 July 2010, seamas wrote:

BE. This isn’t a political issue. It’s got nothing to do with British/Irish relations or Unionism and Nationalism. Gaelic is one of the old original languages in the British Isles. It survives today in Scotland, Wales, parts of Cornwall and on the Isle of Man. And of course here in Northern Ireland. UK citizens here have the same rights as in other UK regions and are entitled to support for this language.

At 15:25 on 29 July 2010, Sean O Coinn wrote:

It is important to give the people the facts. There are no vacant Irish-medium places in the 4 areas where IM schools are being set up. A vacant seat in an IM school in Derry cannot be filled by a child in Kilkeel. In Ballymena alone there are over 10 English-medium primary schools from which parents may choose English-medium education for their child - now parents will also have one Irish-medium choice. Some of the English-medium schools in Ballymena admitted fewer than 10 pupils in each of the last 3 years. One school on the outskirts of Ballymena admitted only 2 pupils last year. The IM schools will only be funded by the taxpayer if they admit 12 pupils or more in the first year. The cost of funding a child's education in NI remains the same irrespective of which school s(he) attends. The grant is a per capita grant, therefore the additional cost associated with the new IM schools will be minimal.

At 12:09 on 29 July 2010, BIG ERNEST wrote:

seamus ; you say this is the language of the british isles , tell me how many speak it in ireland ? around 4 % speak it fluently , wow , another 6% bluff their way , is this really worht all the headlines it receives ? i think not ? this language is being driven by a minister who has i suspect another motive as to why she feels the need to waste our money on something that no one uses , especially in the north .

At 10:35 on 29 July 2010, seamas wrote:

Gaelic is a native language of the British Isles. It’s not a foreign language. It’s not an imported language. It’s not a new immigrant language. It’s one of our own native languages spoken in every region of the UK. The state should support that language. The state should provide services in that language in this UK region as it does in other UK regions. We’re not asking for anything extra. We’re not asking for anything special or out of the ordinary. We’re not talking about Esperanto or Klingon! This is a local native language which belongs to everyone in the UK.

At 09:53 on 29 July 2010, T J McClean wrote:

More money for Irish medium schools that realistically only serve one section of the community and that duplicate school provision already provided! - and then when these Irish medium schools are established we find from experience that they can't be filled! All done at a time when Mrs Ruane tells us money is so tight that the Department of Education can't even fulfill it's required duty to maintain the universal state education system and when provision for Special Needs children from both sides of the community is being savagely cut back! This approval by Mrs Ruane makes no sense. It is done merely to bolster her ideological and political viewpoint. I have no problem with the Irish language. I'm sure it is a good to have but if you want to be taught everything through the medium of Irish it should be done at your own expense.

At 09:12 on 29 July 2010, seamas wrote:

What we describe here as the Irish language is in fact Gaelic. Gaelic is a native language of the British Isles and is spoken in every region of the UK and in the Irish Republic. UK citizens here have the same right of access to their own language as those in other UK regions like Scotland or Wales. It’s not up to the Heathers or Davids of this world to decide what my rights as a UK citizen are. They may set the limit on what languages they want access to but they can’t force that limit on the rest of us. Equality is not the mere right to be the same as Heather or David. Rather it’s the equal right to be different. There is a demand in NI for access to the Irish language. UK citizens are entitled to have that demand met. If Heather and David want to sit in splendid isolation and ignore one of their own languages that’s up to them but they can’t dictate to the rest of us.