Children attending Irish-medium primary schools in south Dublin are being placed at an “absolute disadvantage” due to the lack of Irish-medium secondary school provision, a Gaelscoil principal has said.
Children, parents and teachers from five Irish-medium primary schools held a “pop-up Gaelcholáiste” at the gates of the Department of Education on Tuesday to highlight the need for a new Gaelcholáiste – an Irish-medium secondary school – in the south Dublin school planning area.
Victoria McQuaid, principal of Bunscoil Sráid Synge, said asking the children attending her school to travel to the nearest school, Gaelcholáiste an Phiarsaigh in Rathfarnham, “is not a plausible answer to the need for a local school”.
“We are a Deis school situated in the middle of the city. A lot of the children live in flats and their parents wouldn’t have cars to transport them out to Gaelcholáiste an Phiarsaigh in Rathfarnham,” she said.
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“It is just too far away for them. To put these children on bicycles and expect them to cycle from lár na cathrach (the city centre) to Rathfarnham every day? I’m an adult and it frightens me. They need to be somewhere where they can cycle to school, where it is safe for them to go to school in their own area.”
Pupils, parents and teachers from Scoil Bhríde, Gaelscoil Lios na nÓg, Scoil Mológa, Bunscoil Sráid Synge (Sancta Maria) and Gaelscoil Eoin participated in the “pop-up Gaelcholáiste”.
Teachers are concerned that the benefits of Irish-medium education experienced by the children at primary school will be lost if parents have no option but to send them to English-language schools.
“The children have been very much invested in learning trí mheán na Gaeilge (through the medium of Irish) but if this is not transferred to secondary level they are going to lose it,” said Ms McQuaid. “It is an absolute disadvantage for our children and a missed opportunity for our culture and for our language, and for their development as Gaeilgeoirí.”
Nóirín Ní Chatháin, vice-principal of Gaelscoil Lios na nÓg in Ranelagh, said the absence of a Gaelcholáiste means pupils were being denied the opportunity to continue with their education through Irish. “There are 44 English-medium secondary schools but not one Irish-medium secondary school in the area. For anyone who wants to continue their education in Irish it is impossible to do so. That is such a shame for these children who want to go on and finish their education ‘as Gaeilge.”
Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik, who also attended the protest, said: “There is clearly a demand for a Gaelcholáiste in our area. We have a preponderance of English-language secondary schools and no Irish-language secondary school in Dublin Bay South despite the number of Gaelscoileanna. For me it’s about catering for parental and child choice.”
Clare Kavanagh, a parent, said she is “extremely unhappy” that Irish-medium secondary schooling is not available. “I am asking the Minister for Education to listen to us and provide us with the option of Irish-medium education in our school area now.”
The number of pupils attending Irish-medium primary schools in south Dublin has grown in recent years from 3,500 pupils in 2011 to 7,000 in 2021. Campaigners say this figure will grow to over 9,000 pupils over the coming years but that the Department of Education has no plans to accommodate this growth.
A Department of Education spokesperson said Gaelcholáiste an Phiarsaigh currently “has capacity to accommodate additional students”.
The spokesperson said the department is keeping the situation “under active review” as the number of sixth-class pupils increases in the recently-opened Gaelscoileanna.
