Last week in the Dáil Education minister Batt O'Keefe said regarding the founding of new primary schools that the same criteria would apply for Gaelscoils and ordinary primary schools. Some of the factors to be considered are population increase, demographics,live registers, housing development that happended recently and planned and the ability of schools already there to satisfy demand for places. Effectively he is saying that in the Ireland of the future there will be no new Gaelscoils because all new Gaelscoils have to start out small in their first year because it is immersion education. Ordinary english langauge schools do not have this problem and can take pupils of any age. Seventeen students were all that was required for this. Now upwards of 100 pupils will be required. It also appears from the Department of Education that any new state schools which primarily will be founded in rapidly expanding areas will be English medium only which obviously does not give a choice to parents of the future. Does anyone else think this is all a bit outrageous?

More bullshit since it is developers who decide where people like and the gov then belatedly adds in infrastructure . You would think that they cared by the sound of it.

Anyway there is an agreement between the Church and State to end the movement or curtail it simply because it removes direct control from them

Attempts by the Department to limit Gaelscoileanna are not new.

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Anyway there is an agreement between the Church and State to end the movement or curtail it simply because it removes direct control from them

Sorry, Bearn but that statement is simply silly. Most Gaelscoileanna are ordinary National schools under the patronage of the local Catholic bishop. Some are interdenominational [usually Catholic & CofI, with religion taught as part of the school program] and a very few are multidenominational.

The Department has a problem.
For years they have approved schools starting out in prefabs and temporary accommodation. These schools - particularly Gaelscoileanna - are successful, and soon outgrow the accommodation.

But the Department is unable to plan, and therefore is always playing catch up. (or not, as the case may be).

This seems to be an attempt to limit the number of new schools started to control the problem.

It will almost certainly backfire politically. The schools work, and attract a particularly strong minded calibre of parent.

It is not new that there are people who are enemies of Irish! In former times parents had to fight to found Gaelscoils. Which contrast! On the one hand the state uses Irish to show nationalism, but on the other hand they bother real progress when it comes from the citizens. Always when there are new attacks against the Irish language, you have to organize again and again protests to! Fight against beginnings and don't let take you what your fathers have achieved!The intention of O'Keefe can be contradictory to the Irish Language Act! So on: Parents, pass Irish on as native language so that the children are Irish speakers in the sense of the Irish Language Act!

Not only the Act, the Constituition.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories-ga/oideachas-agus-oiliuint/coras-oi deachais-na-heireann/bunreacht-na-heireann-agus-oideachas

By the way, an interdenomintional Gaelscoil started with 40 pupils in Greystones in September.


This new suggested policy will be a problem for any new rural school - which will increase the backlash against the Government, in places where it will hurt them.