An Daingean students strike at all-Irish education

More than 100 students at a secondary school in Ireland recently refused to attend classes to protest being taught exclusively in the Irish language. They remained outside their school, Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne, in the town of An Daingean [Dingle] in south-west County Kerry for two days.
Students complained they were finding it difficult to learn, because Irish is not their first language and they are not fully competent in it.
The protest has reignited national debate about the relevance of the Irish language.
Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne opened as a state school at the start of the school year in September and replaced two other schools which were classified "all-Irish" but offered some lessons in English.

The students remained outside Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne throughout the day in protest at the school's all-Irish policy.
The students claim that their education is suffering because some of them are not fully competent in the Irish language.
The principal of the school, Padraig Firtéar, said today that he was very disappointed with the students' action and that only a few had approached him on the issue in advance.

Attempts are being made to resolve the matter, but meanwhile the students say that they will continue their protest tomorrow.
The town of Dingle is located in one of the country's so-called Gaeltacht regions, where Irish is the predominant and protected language. Gaeltacht areas are mainly located at the western fringes of the island.
Peculiarly, Dingle is home to the highest proportion of Irish speakers [62 per cent] throughout the country, according to the Central Statistics Office.

The controversial policy has been the subject of several heated public meetings in the town.
Earlier in September Parents of students attending Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne, said they were to petition the Department of Education on the school?s Irish-only policy.
That was the outcome of a public meeting in the town on the issue of education and language in the school.
Around 150 people attended the meeting in the Dingle Bay Hotel, including newly elected Fine Gael TD Tom Sheahan and two members of the Parents Council of Ireland. The meeting was chaired by publican Tom Geaney who said the purpose of the meeting was to invite comment from the floor on the issues of language and education in the new school.

The first to speak was John Ferriter whose stepdaughter, Russian-born Anastasia, is now attending the Presentation in Tralee because she couldn?t cope with education through the medium of Irish in Dingle. Her story became national news some weeks ago and was the catalyst for the public meeting on Monday night. I'm totally against the discriminatory policy which excludes people from education. Students who were being educated in a bilingual system can't cope with an Irish-only system and will lose out on careers and their futures. Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne is for the whole community and not for people to run their own agendas.

Cyril Harrington told the meeting that he has two sons in the new school and one of them couldn't cope with the Irish-only system.I told one of the school staff that my son couldn't do the exams in Irish and was told that he could do them in English. This change from bilingual education in the old schools should have been introduced gradually, not all at once. I was on to the Department of Education about this and was told that the Dingle school was taking a heavy-handed approach on this issue, he stated.

Mature student Kirsten Rigney, who told the meeting that she has a three year-old son, has just enrolled as a fifth year student at the new school.I can't travel to Tralee. I believe in keeping the Irish language alive but don't believe in it being forced on me. I just can't do it through Irish alone, she said.

Chairman of the new school's Board of Management Seán Ó Sulleabháin told the meeting that the new school is in a Gaeltacht area and, according to the Department of Education, the medium of the school is Irish.
He said that it was his understanding that there wouldn't be any real change for the exam classes which had been taught through the bilingual system.It's not in the gift of the Board of Management to change the system to have an English stream in the school, he said.

Robáird Ó hEartáin said the Department of Education were responsible for the current problems. ?We need a system in place to support kids who don?t have Irish. It's unfair to have parents fighting among each other. The Department should have sorted this out long ago, he said. Speaking in Irish, Danny Sheehy told the meeting that he was totally in favour of the Irish-only policy.

Ted Browne proposed that the students at Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne should be allowed vote on the issue of Irish-only or a bi-lingual system.
Fifth year student at the new school Victoria McGowan also appealed for bi-lingualism.
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An Daingean students strike at all-Irish education