Breathnach apology on Gaelscoil conditions

THE Minister for Education has apologised to an Oireachtas committee for misleading comments about the sanctioning of new all Irish schools.

Ms Breathnach made the apology to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Irish yesterday when she clarified remarks made earlier before the committee in July.

The Minister then said there had been no change in the minimum enrolment of 20 pupils required by the Department of Education before it would sanction a new Irish school and none was envisaged.

"The clarification was given in good faith but it became clear in retrospect that the reply did not respond to the specific point raised by the members, that is, that the application of the "20" rule had become more uniform," she said yesterday.

Ms Breathnach conceded that her Department had approved applications from schools which had built up the required 20 pupils over a number of years. However, the Minister claimed, the Department's "established" condition was that a school should have an enrolment of 20 children in one year. "This is not a new condition - it has been in existence for a number of years."

This year, the condition was "uniformly applied" to ensure the viability of schools, given the decline in numbers attending primary schools. She regretted the short notice given to schools of the "uniform application of practice".

The Minister came under criticism recently from Irish language organisations over her refusal to sanction four Gaelscoileanna because they failed to meet the Department's criteria.

Yesterday, she said 31 Gaelscoileanna had been sanctioned during her period in office. Primary pupils numbers were falling at a rate of 11,000 a year so it was vital to ensure that new schools were viable before giving them recognition.

The Minister said the capital cost of a new eight classroom Gaelscoil was £800,000.