Thank you, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, for giving me the opportunity to raise this issue. I also thank the Minister for coming here to deal with this important matter. The parents and board of management of Ballyferriter national school are concerned that one of their teachers has been put on the panel. The school is only one child short of the required number and pupil numbers for the coming year are good.
In Gaeltacht areas, some children only have Irish as a family language, other children have various standards of fluency in Irish, some have an understanding of it, others have only a few words, and some have no knowledge of it and only know English. The Minister can appreciate that this means an extra workload on teachers in such schools. The teachers in this school would, therefore, be under severe pressure if the fourth teacher left it would cause serious difficulty to the school, its staff and its pupils. I am also concerned about the effect of the loss of a teacher on pupils whose grasp of Irish is weak. This will also have implications for the strength of the language in Ballyferriter.
This school has a special case and I implore the Minister to ensure the teacher is retained. We in this House are convinced of the need to preserve the Irish language and of how important it is to all of us. Teachers in schools such as Ballyferriter play a vital role in keeping our first language and they deserve the Minister's support. I pay tribute to all teachers who do an excellent job in difficult circumstances in communities throughout this country for the Irish language.
