I wish Irish were an optional subject. I resent the amount of time my children are force-fed a language at school that, according to the 2011 census, just 1.8 per cent of the population speak every day outside of the classroom.

The 2011 National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy requires children at primary level to have Irish lessons for 2½ hours a week (increased to four hours at Gaelscoileanna) for infants with shorter days, or 3½ hours a week (increased to five hours for Gaelscoileanna) for older, full-day students. So, out of a typical school week of 19.35 hours of lessons for infants, and 24.35 hours for juniors, the former will spend about 13 per cent of their school time on Irish and the latter about 14 per cent.

My eldest daughter, who is currently studying for her Junior Cert, has an Irish class every day: that’s 40 minutes out of her average of five hours and 36 minutes of daily lessons spent on Irish, or just under 12 per cent of that time.

More productive

For our children to be forced to spend more than 10 per cent of their lessons at primary and secondary level on Irish – a language many of them hate and will have little or no need for later in life – is plain nuts. Surely this time could be more productively spent on subjects that better prepare them for life after school, work and the world around them?

And another thing: why is Irish still compulsory given this policy has singularly failed to reinvigorate the language to any significant degree?

If anything, the continued retention of this policy can only serve to evoke and sustain a long-lasting resentment and antagonism towards the language.

Currently, only certain students can get an exemption from learning Irish, including those who have spent a significant period of time abroad or others with a learning difficulty. But what about students from mixed backgrounds, where one parent is non-Irish, who are struggling to maintain the mother tongue of both parents?

My children, for example, are half Italian, and my wife and I have spent a great deal of time and expense to ensure they are bilingual. We have succeeded, but compulsory Irish at school made this a much tougher proposition than if they only learned English in school here. I wonder how many other parents of children from “mixed” backgrounds wish their kids could just concentrate on perfecting daddy’s and mammy’s language before being forced to learn another?

I favour compulsory Irish at primary level to instil an appreciation and awareness of the language –but at half the current 13-14 per cent of lesson time – before making it optional at second level. That way, all students would have some knowledge of the language before deciding if they wish to study it seriously.

And should the authorities be considering changes to the compulsory Irish policy, please put them before the people to vote on, rather than having us dictated to by our calculating political class, who have so far proved unwilling to take on the Irish language lobby and the bean-an-tí brigade.