Sir, – Finbar McDonnell (January 4th) wants the use of the Irish language extended, while pointing out that most new primary school teachers do not have a grasp of the language themselves.
So unless their ranks are decimated by some sort of purge and they are then replaced with the ghosts of Christian Brothers past, then Irish cannot be revived through the schools and that’s that.
This would not surprise the ghost of Eoin MacNeill, the first minister for education, who said, “You might as well be putting wooden legs on hens as trying to restore Irish through the school system”.
And if Mr McDonnell wants to link a revival plan with the centenary of 1916, he might read Patrick Pearse's The Murder Machine, in which he lauds a liberal approach to educating youth and denounced education based on manipulation and coercion.
Then Pearse’s legacy might be celebrated in a fit manner by making Irish a subject of choice in the Leaving Certificate. – Yours, etc,
DONAL FLYNN
Sandycove,
Co Dublin.