The Department of Education has faced renewed calls to include Irish medium schools in its funding programme that would allow for the development of much-needed new school buildings.
The pleas come amidst growing concern over substandard accommodation at Irish medium schools, which have long been deprived of government funding.
The Irish medium sector is the fastest growing education sector in the North. However, in June 2020, Irish medium schools were completely overlooked in the Department of Education's £156million Major Capital Works Programme.
West Belfast MLA Pat Sheehan has since questioned the Education Minister, Michelle McIlveen, on how she will ensure Irish medium schools will not be disadvantaged within the next round of capital works funding, which is expected before the end of the financial year.
Responding to Mr Sheehan, the Minister said a call for capital works projects will "commence in the near future," with applications "assessed against current Departmental priorities".
Ms McIlveen said the "scoring of applications will be based on the schools’ current circumstances."
Speaking to the Andersonstown News, Mr Sheehan stressed that the Department has a "statutory duty" to facilitate Irish medium education.
He said a "significant proportion" of pupils in the sector are being educated in accommodation that isn't fit for purpose.
"We've schools that are still operating in temporary Portakabin accommodation, 25 years later in some cases," the Sinn Féin MLA said.
"The pandemic has brought into sharp focus the need for proper accommodation with ventilation and so on. That in itself creates a difficulty for Irish medium schools that are operating in substandard accommodation.
"The Department of Education has a statutory duty to facilitate Irish medium. What we want to do is ensure the sector is supported in line with that statutory obligation and that children have access to the facilities they deserve."
Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta, which represents the Irish medium sector, estimates that 60 per cent of pupils in Irish medium education are in "unsuitable" accommodation.
The organisation's Chief Executive Officer, Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin, said the Department of Education must look at a "bespoke and targeted approach to meeting the accommodation needs of young people in Irish medium education".
"If you look at the schools that been established in the last 20 years the majority of them are Irish medium schools," he said.
"So, new schools have emerged, they've reached the sustainable threshold, they've applied and qualified for the capital call, but then they're being rejected.
"There needs to be a very targeted approach given the imbalance here in terms of the specific accommodation needs of the Irish medium sector."
He continued: "There is a statutory duty to encourage and facilitate Irish medium education and what that means, de facto, is that they can take measures for Irish medium that that they wouldn't necessarily take for others sectors.
"The question must be asked, in terms of capital and accommodation, what are those added measures they're taking? What extra steps are they taking to meet the needs of Irish medium education in the context of a very severe legal duty that says they should take those extra measures? I haven't seen any evidence of it."
