The 1998 Good Friday Agreement placed a statutory duty on the Department of Education to encourage and facilitate Irish medium education. Despite this, the Department have consistently failed to satisfactorily provide adequate resources and support for Irish-medium schools.

Many of those going through the Irish-medium education system have seen first-hand the impact that state denial and exclusion of the language have had. Their participation in our campaign is not surprising; they have spent their entire school lives fighting for basic amenities and rights that are afforded to their English-speaking peers.

2010:

Former Education Minister Caitríona Ruane refused to back a pilot transport scheme which would provide funding for a bus for 11 pupils travelling from Downpatrick to Coláiste Feirste, the only post-primary Irish-medium school at the time.

Following this decision, Coláiste Feirste’s Board of Governors submitted an application for a judicial review. The judge ruled the Department of Education failed to properly consider its obligation to encourage the development of Irish medium education.

2013:

Despite the continued annual increase in the uptake of Irish-medium nursery and primary schools throughout the north, demands for a second post-primary institution were delayed by the Department of Education. A lengthy, community-led campaign preceded the establishment of a second post-primary school, Gaelcholáiste Dhoire, in September 2015.

The Irish-medium education sector is the fastest growing sector; currently, there are over 7,000 children receiving their education through the medium of Irish. Despite this, there are only two-post primary units providing immersion education through Irish; this is simply not enough to meet the demand.

2014:

The Coláiste Feirste bus campaign (#BusAnois) was launched by Tuistí an Tuaiscirt after the Department of Education refused to provide a bespoke bus service to children travelling to Coláiste Feirste from North Belfast.

2016:

The Department of Education removed vital funding for the creation of two much-needed nurture units in Bunscoil Bheann Madagáin in North Belfast and Scoil an Droichid in East Belfast. At the time, there were 30 schools that received funding, none of which were Irish-medium schools.

2021:

Despite the growth and successes of the Irish-medium education sector, some schools are struggling to survive due to a lack of funding from the Department of Education. In 2021, 60% of Irish-medium schools in the north are still located in inadequate, unsatisfactory accommodation, lacking basic amenities and in some cases, in complete disrepair.

The Department’s blatant ignorance towards development proposals have left some schools struggling to survive.

2022

GCSE Maths Support Materials

On the 31st January 2022, the Department of Education made secondary schools aware of GCSE mathematics revision resources which were being produced by Corbettmaths to assist secondary schools in preparation for their GCSE maths exam. The packs were extremely comprehensive, containing 93 revision cards covering key topics, formulae and facts along with QR codes linking to online lessons, revision worksheets, as well as practice questions and answers.

None of the cards were provided in Irish. When the Department of Education were contacted to relay the concerns of the IM sector regarding the absence of additional support, no response was received.

GCSE Support E-Books

In February 2022, the Department of Education wrote to secondary schools across the north regarding the availability of CCEA revision eBooks (available via Hodder) to support year 12 pupils in preparation for their GCSE examinations. Schools had from 7th March-31st March to place their orders.

The eBooks were available in 10 different subjects through the medium of English. None of the 10 eBooks offered by the Department of Education were available in Irish; when requested, CCEA stated that it would be practically impossible to do provide the resources in Irish before the end of the academic year (timeframe, copyright issues, availability of translation staff).

The Department of Education suggested that the IM sector identify similar resources currently available through the medium of Irish and which could be made available at pace to IM schools. These resources do not exist.

IM pupils do not have access to the same resources and support as their English-speaking peers with whom they are on a level-playing field when it comes to examinations.

The Department of Education have a statutory duty to encourage and facilitate Irish medium education. This is a clear dereliction of duty on the Department’s behalf. It’s not good enough.

Coláiste Feirste Accommodation Crisis

Whilst the Irish-medium education sector is thriving nowadays, the Department of Education is not meeting the demands of this growth; Coláiste Feirste’s new building was built in 2018 to cater to the 600 pupils that were attending the school at that time. Since then, there has been a significant increase in the number of pupils, with 900 now attending the school, and an estimated growth to over 1,000 pupils in 3 years time.

The school is currently over-subscribed by 300 pupils, with libraries, common rooms and technology suites being used as classrooms. The school are also looking at using the sports facilities and staff room as potential classrooms; they have been burdened with the responsibility of managing the crisis, despite the Department of Education’s statutory duty to encourage and facilitate Irish-medium education.

Irish-medium schools are consistently left out of mainstream planning, rarely anything more than an afterthought at best, or an annoying bolt-on at worst and this example is testament to that. If the Department of Education took proactive steps to strategically plan for this growth, the school would not be in the crisis situation that it currently finds itself.