The General Secretary of the Celtic League has written to the Minister for Education in Ireland describing her recent circular which effectively banned the early Irish immersion programme as "perplexing and ill thought out". Rhisiart Tal-e-bot made his comments as part of a campaign by the Celtic League and its branches supporting Irish language organisations opposing the Ministers edict.

The full text of the General Secretary's letter is set out below:

"Dear Minister Mary Hanafin, TD

Early Irish Immersion Programme

The Celtic League were indeed surprised by your announcement in July that all Irish medium schools in the country should teach English for a half an hour every day from the beginning of the second term in the junior infant entry level class - effectively banning the early Irish immersion programme.

Your reasoning for this decision is perplexing, because it does not have the support of parents or the school system as can be seen by the recent high court victory by the Patronage Institute for Gaelscoileanna (Foras Pátrúnachta) and two individual Gaelscoil (Tralee and Naas). By forcing schools to drop the immersion programme, you are also effectively limiting the choices of parents who want their children's education to be fully and wholly immersed in the Irish language.

Moreover, numerous studies from around the Celtic world have shown that early immersion programmes produce better results in other languages at a later stage. Your decision to change this system can only be based on flawed educational advice or a desire to spark a national outrage. We would therefore be interested to know what promted you to initiate this action.

At our AGM in Caerdydd/Cardiff, Cymru/Wales delegates expressed their alarm at your decision in the only state where a Celtic language enjoys constitutional status as the first official language. Needless to say the following resolution was passed unanimously by our members:

{The Celtic League deplores the Irish Minister of Education, Mary Hanafin's, decision to ban the early Irish immersion programme practiced in many Irish medium schools (Gaelscoileanna) in the Republic and calls upon her to rescind this and listen to those who call for a research informed decision. We congratulate the Minister of Education in the North of Ireland, Catiríona Ruane, for confirming that early Irish immersion programmes in Gaelscoileanna in the North will continue.}

We look forward to hearing from you with an explanation for attempting to implement an educational measure that, to all appearances, was ill thought out in the extreme.

Yours sincerely"

See also related items on Celtic News at:

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Gaelscoileanna on-line petition at:

(voir le site)

Web-site for updates at:

(voir le site)

J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League

21/11/07

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