Vol. 467 No. 1
217 Mr. Cowen asked the Minister for Education the plans, if any, she has to establish a specific education board for the Gaeltacht and other all-Irish schools in the context of her proposed regionalisation of education boards; and if she will make a statement on the matter regarding the plans, if any, for such schools in any new regional structure. [12569/96]
I have no plans to introduce a separate education board for Gaeltacht or all-Irish schools.
The proposals to set up a structure of education boards are clearly set out in the White Paper "Charting Our Education Future".
The education boards will be responsible for servicing all community interests within the education system. They will have a number of advantages over the existing centralised structure in supporting Gaeltacht and all-Irish schools. In particular, education boards will be situated in close proximity to the schools and communities which they will serve and will have powers to establish specialist groups and/or committees to advise and assist as appropriate in the implementation of policies.
I realise that Gaeltacht and all-Irish schools are dissimilar to other schools and that therefore special arrangements need to be formulated for them. For example, arrangements will need to be made for the provision of textbooks and Irish medium teaching materials, as well as incareer development programmes, for these schools at a national level.
