THE Andersonstown News and North Belfast News carries a supplement this week which takes a snapshot of the Irish medium education sector throughout the North. It looks at the continued growth of Irish schools, two new naíscoileanna, one in Antrim town Naíscoil Aontroma and the launch of Naíscoil na Seolta in east Belfast, which will be the first integrated Irish medium school in the region. Mum Natalie McDowell with daughter Méabh who will be attending Naíscoil na Seolta Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin
With all of the manufactured controversy over the long awaited Irish Language Act it is interesting to see the continued growth of pupils in Irish schools over the past 20 years from 1,500 to close to 7,000 children. Many parents recognise the cognitive boost that immersion education in Irish delivers to children and that is one of the main reasons for the continued growth in the sector during a period when there are less school age children in the system.
As well as looking at the successes facing the sector today it also points up some of the challenges. For example, there are three bunscoileanna in Derry City that have been going for 30 years in the case of one, and they have been operating in temporary accommodation from that time, with no sign of a new school building in the near future. That state of affairs cannot be allowed to endure. Literally thousands of pupils have gone to bunscoil in Derry City and not one has experienced a permanent purpose built school building.
Children attending Irish medium schools have the same entitlements as those in other sectors and the representatives of the IME sector are working diligently to address these and other disparities.
Gaelscoil na gCrann in Omagh gives cause for celebration as it becomes the first IME school outside of Belfast to have a new permanent school building. Gaelscoil na gCrann has been in existence for 20 years and it has been driven by two power houses in chair, Julie Gallagher, who has been there from day one and Portadown native, principal Deirdre Nic Chionnaith.
Gaelscoil na gCrann will be joined in the next few years by Gaelscoil Uí Dhochartaigh in Strabane, Gaelscoil Éanna in Glengormley, Scoil an Droichid in south Belfast, Gaelscoil Aodha Rua in Dungannon and Gaelscoil Uí Néill in Coalisland who are all on the capital build list.
Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin, the newly appointed chief executive of Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta, which advocates for IME schools, talks about his vision for the sector and its values. He concludes that the Irish education sector is a bottom up movement consisting of families and communities.
“And as we celebrate half a century of IME this year, above all we celebrate their vision, their generosity, their sacrifices, their resilience and their success.”
