Irish language scheme axe 'devastating' for schools

The end of an Irish-language scheme for English-medium schools is devastating, a school principal has told BBC News NI.

St Bronagh's Primary School in Rostrevor is one of more than 80 in Northern Ireland which takes part in the Scoil Spreagtha scheme.

Organised by the language organisation Gael Linn, Scoil Spreagtha supports English-medium schools to teach Irish.

About 15,000 pupils in 82 primary schools were involved in the scheme and 80 schools were on the waiting list for it.

But Gael Linn has said the funding is not in place to continue the scheme after the end of this school year in June 2025.

The all-Ireland Irish language body Foras na Gaeilge recently said it had to make savings of more than €800,000 (£669,000) and that would mean funding cuts to some groups operating in Northern Ireland.

A number of language organisations subsequently staged a half-day strike in protest at the cuts.

The principal of St Bronagh's Primary School Jody Mussen said the Scoil Spreagtha scheme allowed non Irish speaking teachers to help pupils with Irish.

"The big benefits that we have seen from that are increases in self-confidence and self-awareness," he said.

"It's raising the profile of language in our school and we very much see the Scoil Spreagtha scheme as a gateway to allowing our kids to access new language and encourage the use of other languages.

"They're using other languages and coming in to showcase the bits of French or Spanish or German or Mandarin that they're learning."

Mr Mussen said the scheme had been really beneficial to the school.

"It's devastating that all the hard work that went into the Scoil Spreagtha scheme and the promotion of the Irish language could potentially be pulled."

A previous scheme to teach languages in primary schools was axed in 2015 due to Department of Education cuts at the time.

Séamas Mac Eochaidh, from Gael Linn, said Scoil Spreagtha had been funded for two years as a pilot scheme.

"Now, with the fact that there are wider Irish language cuts we do not have the opportunity to roll the scheme out again and develop the pilot we have done," he said.

"So obviously the indirect impact that the wider Irish language cuts have had on this scheme means that we're not able to develop it."

Mr Mac Eochaidh said the schools who took part wanted to encourage their pupils to develop a second language while at primary school.

"The manner than we do this is very much positive and creative in what we do, and the schools and teachers are more than welcoming to the work," he said.

"But the opportunity won't be there if this scheme does not exist.

"The majority of these schools are completely dependent on the scheme."

Gael Linn had been offering the scheme without ever having a full-time staff member to run it and that has become unsustainable given the interest in it.

"Because this is Irish language based, it is in the education sector but people tend to think it's passion over profession," Mr Mac Eochaidh said.

"It's not just about a passion."

"In order for this scheme to develop and reach the demand that's there we need to have human resources behind the scheme."

Mr Mac Eochaidh said schools had been "distraught" over the news that the scheme was due to end, but he hoped that more funding could be found.

"We're ready to roll this out as a three-year, five-year, seven-year project," he said.

"It's just a matter of the funding being made available.

"We know what we're doing with these types of schemes, we just need the support to do so."

Pól Deeds, deputy chief executive of Foras na Gaeilge, said the Scoil Spreagtha scheme had been hugely successful.

"But Gael Linn can't continue to carry the responsibility for this rapidly growing project without proper staffing and resources," he said.

Mr Deeds said they were "working with both governments to find a solution to this".

He added: "We met MLAs from Stormont's education committee and we've been putting together a case for Gael Linn to be properly funded to deliver Scoil Spreagtha.

"The Department of Education, I think, needs to take this on as one of their strategic priorities because it is so effective.

"It is delivering on things like helping to address educational attainment and encouraging the use of languages."