Subject preview: Leaving Cert Irish (Paper I today) Young people would study higher level Irish if a third-level sector was developed to offer Irish-speaking vocational courses such as business, law and information technology, argues Pól Ó Muirí

"Is aoibhinn beatha an scoláire," as the saying has it. Only it's not true this time of year; the student's life is more likely "uafásach" as he or she undertakes the latest written paper. Yet, sit them, they must. Or at least - sit some of them they must.

The latest figures for the Leaving Cert show that while more students sit Irish than French in total, more students sit French at the higher level. This, despite the fact that students have been studying Irish since primary school.

In 2003, 32,491 students sat Leaving Cert French of whom 15,054 - almost half - sat the exam at the higher level. In the same year, 49,828 students sat the Irish exam; only 15,102 - less than a third - took the higher option. So, is it a question of Irish being irrelevant - Why be Peig when you can be Britney? - or students opting for what they believe to be a more "useful" language - French, one which can be used in the European Union?

A quick canvass of people who sat and who have taught Irish, brought similar responses: yes, the exam is vastly improved from when we were young and yes, you'd find yourself teaching children in Dublin and wondering what exactly the whole thing had to do with them.

"The whole thing" being the role of Irish in contemporary society or to put it in exam terms: Scríobh aiste ar: "How to convince stroppy teenagers who live in areas that have been English speaking for centuries that, honestly and truly, this subject is the key to unlocking their country's culture."

The Leaving Cert papers for 2003 are laudable attempts to mix and match the modern and traditional. Essays in paper one include "The lack of fairness in distributing wealth is responsible for the majority of social problems" and articles on "You surveyed your fellow students on the standard, effectiveness (influence) and sort of television programmes which young people watch". This socially-aware material rubs shoulders with questions on Clann Lir, the short stories of Pádraic Ó Conaire and the History of Irish in paper two.

It left this journalist - with a BA and PhD in Celtic Studies - in need of a lie down. Teenagers have enough to deal with without becoming the pack-mules of cultural and linguistic history. Certainly, there is a need to educate but there is also an obligation to ensure that the learning is easily carried. That there is an honest attempt to engage students by showing them that language can debate contemporary affairs is to be welcomed. All cynicism aside, Irish remains a vehicle of intellectual and social debate for many people.

One suspects, however, that the Leaving Cert is geared less towards producing young energetic Irish speakers as it is towards providing would-be teachers with a comprehensive grounding in the subject when they go to university or teacher trainer college.

And here we have, perhaps, another reason for the reluctance to pursue higher level Irish: why study something that isn't going to get you on to a course and into a job that interests you? It is one of the great anomalies of Irish-language education that students can attend all-Irish primary and secondary schools but not Irish-medium universities. Yes, students may well study Irish for a degree but the number of courses available through the medium of Irish which are vocational - information technology, business and law, say - are limited in the extreme. There are exceptions and Fiontar, DCU's Irish-medium business unit, is one of the most notable.

More often than not though, the careers most readily available for those who use Irish remain teaching, the Civil Service and/or the media.

It is a situation which can be remedied by developing a third-level sector which can offer courses - and Irish-speaking company - for those who yearn for a life outside of the classroom or, indeed, the newsroom. And it is here that the State's commitment to language maintenance is shown to be unimaginative and old-fashioned.

The on-going campaign to make Irish an official working language of the EU highlights the issue starkly. Imagine for a moment that you are a native speaker from the Gaeltacht, a region fractured with linguistic contradictions; you've just come through a primary and secondary school system which has catered for your native language with varying degrees of success. There is every possibility that many of your textbooks and classes have been in English and your grandparents are never finished telling you that in their day you had to emigrate and what use was Irish then?

You look at TG4 and see that virtually all the programmes in Irish are subtitled in English while all the rest are in English. Few enough of the jobs the Government offers need Irish and there is virtually no call for it in the private sector. Worse, the language you speak - the first official language - has no official standing in the EU and the Government is in no rush to change that. You're an intelligent young person and you see that your language has little relevance locally, nationally or internationally.

Why would you study Irish?

• Pól Ó Muirí is Irish Language Editor of The Irish Times.