Labour's Gaeltacht spokesman Brian O'Shea said it was vital that children learned to speak Irish and use it as widely as possible at an early age. Mr O'Shea said the major difficulty for children could be the first letter of various words, because of aspirations, eclipses and prefixes.
"For example, Éire becomes tir na hÉireann. Does the Minister agree that any obstacles confronting children using the language must be addressed and that appropriate changes, where deemed necessary in the sense of assisting children in learning the language at that early stage, should be quickly introduced?"
Minister for the Gaeltacht Eamon Ó Cuív said the issue was tricky. "I come from a long tradition of modernists in this regard and I am often criticised for example for spelling my name 'Cuív' because there is no 'v' in Irish. My view is that modern Irish has a 'v'."
Mr Ó Cuív said he had already raised the issue with Foras na Gaeilge. "Under the British-Irish Act 1999, it is responsible for An Coiste Tearmaiochta. Clearly, it is sensible for the body which now has the official, legal responsibility for tearmaiocht to look also at what I see as the associated issue of grammar and caighdeán oifigúil.
"I am not a linguist or a great expert in the area, but I understand that in many languages, the genitive is not used in the same form in which it was used 100 years ago. That is not unique in Irish, although in certain cases in Irish the change has accelerated."
Mr Ó Cuív warned that he would not support the "bastardisation" of the language.
"I will not try to use unparliamentary language, although one can get away with that in Irish easier than in English. There are non-native forms of speech which are quite inappropriate to the language as spoken."
Later, the Minister was urged by Seán Crowe, SF, Dublin South West, to recognise the level of deprivation and poverty that was the daily reality for many urban communities.
Mr Ó Cuív said the problem was not jobs per se. "People are coming from all over the country to take up jobs in Dublin. The big challenge is education and the educational attainments of people in Rapid areas, which are a good definition of the most deprived communities."
