FG plan to downgrade Irish slammed.
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Tuesday November 22, 2005 20:33
by Séan Ó Murchú PRO - MacCurtain/McSwiney Cumann Republican Sinn Féin Cork
Fine Gael proposals to downgrade Irish from a required Leaving Certificate subject have been greeted with a barrage of criticism.
At the Fine Gael party conference Enda Kenny stated that "many are leaving school without any reasonable command of the language", and that it was in the national language's best interests that it's present status as a required Leaving Certificate subject be abolished.
According to the Fine Gael leader, the status of Irish as a required Leaving Certificate language "was actually driving many young people away from any real engagement", with the language.
Responding to this Dáithí Mac Cárthaigh, Uachtarán Chonradh na Gaeilge said that: "There have been problems in the teaching of mathematics in recent years. A new syllabus is being designed to combat this problem. Would this approach in the case of Irish not be a preferred solution?"
Continuing, Mac Cárthaigh said: "If students are forced to choose between Irish and other subjects required for their chosen careers, for example biology or chemistry in the case of medicine, the student will be left with no choice but to choose the other subject, thereby denying such students the choice of studying Irish. Indeed, many schools would discontinue teaching Irish for the leaving cert."
The Fine Gael proposal has drawn criticism from many quarters including the MacCurtain/McSwiney Cumann Republican Sinn Féin Cork, Teacher and Students Unions and Irish language organisations.
A spokesperson for the MacCurtain/McSwiney Cumann Republican Sinn Féin Cork said, "these comments are seen as particularly disappointing, especially at a time when Gaeilge is recognised as an official language in Europe and attitudes towards Irish have never been more positive. The Irish language is part of our heritage and should be cherished as such."
Comments (8 of 8)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8AN OUTRAGEOUS PROPOSAL BY ENDA KENNY.
He must wan't to destroy our native language as well as our culture. He should have proposed doing the Junior Cert and going to School to be made optional as well, why not?! He will regret making this fatal proposal because it will turn voters backs on him. I am not from an Irish speaking background myself but as an Irish citizen, I think that as it stands, the Irish language is hanging on for its dear life. But if it were to be taken away from the Education syllabus altogether as what Enda Kenny is proposing, it would vanish almost immediately.
What harm does education do? I think that the syllabus needs to be changed to improve the way its taught but simply abolishing it from the School course is an absolutely crazy idea.
Straight from an phoblacht!
No, straight from the opinion of most of the Irish people actually...
Arse to an An Phoblacht.
I can, and do, absolutely stand behind supporting the language especially in state-education without having anything to do with that publication.
As a Republican, for once I find myself in agreement with Enda. Comoulsary Irish has not worked. Students who excel at other subjects often scrape a pass in LC Irish. I dont think this means the teachers are at fault rather it is the methodology through which the curriculum is prepared. Maybe there is a need for updating the Irish language , get rid of arbitary grammar rules.
Pearse described the education system imposed on Ireland as a murdermachine. Well those who have forced Irish down our throats for the last 80 yrs have created a murdermachine, one which has muredered the Irish Language. I doubt if Peasrse would have looked with favour on this.
Voluntary Irish and Biligualism and modernisation of the Irish Language are the way forward.
Pat,
I actually received a B3 in Irish for my Leaving Cert last year, at Higher level. However, I failed Ordinary level English and I have to repeat it this year at School. What you said about people not being able to scrape a pass in LC Irish is ridiculous. There are people struggling to scrape a pass in LC English you know.... Since this is an Irish Educational system, Irish deserves to be retained since its our countrys language and foreign languages like French and English should not be allowed to overwrite our own language. What next? Will Arabic language be allowed to overwrite the Irish language once English does so?
one case is not a statistical universe. fair dues to you but i think my case stands. look at the overall figures for irish pass/fail in the lc.
i am not against the irish language, i think the spelling and grammar needs to be reformed and stanndardised. bilingualism and voluntary irish after the JC is the way forward.
"ook at the overall figures for irish pass/fail in the lc."
Are they that different than English and Maths?
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