asked the Minister for Education whether, in view of the fact that after ten years' experience of the working of the national programme, representatives of both Catholic and Protestant school managers, and teachers, and members of the National Programme Conference of 1925, have publicly expressed their condemnation of the exclusion of English from the infants' classes in the schools outside the Gaeltacht, he will publish the authoritative evidence on which the National Programme Conference based its recommendation that teachers who knew Irish should be forbidden to speak English to infants in the schools in Dublin and other areas where the children knew no Irish.
Ceisteanna.—Questions. Oral Answers. - Teaching of English in Galltacht.
The evidence received by the Conference in 1925-26 was not intended for publication and it is not proposed to publish now the portion of it alluded to in the question.
I must refer the Deputy to the Report and Programme of the Conference (paragraph 5, page 10, and paragraph 3, page 22) for an accurate statement of the unanimous view of the members with regard to the use of Irish for infant teaching.
I have already informed the Deputy that the results of the work done entirely in Irish in infants' classes by qualified teachers confirm the principles laid down in the Conference Report.
May I inquire if the Minister thinks it reasonable to call in to support his policy expert evidence given before a conference, and when asked to produce that evidence, in order that it may be examined, with a view to ascertaining whether, in fact, it supports the Minister's present contention, he should refuse to produce the evidence saying that it was not intended for publication? If not intended for publication, surely it should not be called in evidence in this House?