Gaelscoileanna and 'social apartheid'

Madam, - Irish-language schooling, according to Sarah Carey (Opinion, December 24th), is not a cultural or linguistic issue, …

Madam, - Irish-language schooling, according to Sarah Carey (Opinion, December 24th), is not a cultural or linguistic issue, but a way of achieving ethnic and class segregation. People send their children to Gaelscoileanna, she tells us, because "you won't find too many immigrants and local ruffians at the Gaelscoil".

Not a single piece of evidence is produced to support this contention. In fact, it is hard to see any connection between the existence of Irish-language schools and immigration - the vast majority were established before there was any significant immigration into Ireland. And her suggestion that they are a middle-class cocoon is hard to square with the social diversity of their locations in Dublin, as listed on Gaelscoileanna.ie - Ballybrack, two in Ballymun, Clondalkin, Harmonstown, Monkstown, Palmerstown, Raheny, Tallaght, and so on.

In Sarah Carey's world, it seems, you are simply not allowed to want education in Irish because it happens to be your home language, or as a political choice, or because of a belief in the cultural and cognitive richness of bilingualism. No, you should "stop pretending that this is all about the Irish language" and admit that it's really because you're a snob and a xenophobe. Another thing you're not allowed to do is have the temerity to protest at the poor physical condition of a Gaelscoil. No, you should be grateful that your existence outside what she calls "the mainstream" is tolerated.

Sarah Carey finds the Gaelscoil movement "shrill" and "sanctimonious". A writer who can combine so much prejudice with so little fact, and who can use historically-charged words like "apartheid" so glibly, should think twice before imputing these qualities to others. - Yours, etc,

READ MORE

NIALL Ó CIOSÁIN,

Claremont Park,

Galway.

A Chara, - Sarah Carey criticises parents who send their children to Gaelscoileanna (primary schools in which the curriculum is taught through Irish) for reasons other than language acquisition. Eureka! I imagine that parents who enrol their children in Educate Together schools are motivated by issues other than the schools' ethos? Regardless of Ms. Carey's cynicism, the common bond that unites all parents who send their children to a Gaelscoil is the desire that their chidren attain fluency in Irish.

There are usually alternatives.

Regarding class size, I know that the Gaelscoil in Monkstown, in which our children received their primary education, had well over 30 pupils in each of the two junior infant classes, the vast majority of whom had no previous knowledge of Irish.

Ms Carey's fanciful notion of a true social mix common to "ordinary" primary schools is far removed from the reality of social segregation which is so glaringly obvious here in Dublin.

The final issue she raises is by far the most serious one: the Department of Education, it seems, operates a pecking order for schools in receipt of structural funding which has Gaelscoileanna languishing at the bottom of the list. Would Batt O'Keeffe care to confirm that this is true? - Is mise,

PÁDRAIG Ó CEARBHAILL,

Baile na Manach,

Co Bhaile Átha Cliath.

Madam, - Sarah Carey says: "I wish the Gaelscoileanna would learn that lesson before they expect taxpayers to pay for [their choices]".

Are Irish-speaking people not taxpayers, or do they get a special dispensation? Yours, etc,

BRIAN P. Ó CINNÉIDE,

Durban,

South Africa.