asked the Minister for Finance whether he will consider waiving the regulation requiring Irish as a subject for all candidates in ex-Servicemen's examinations for special employment in the Civil Service on an established basis, where the ex-Servicemen was resident in Northern Ireland up to the time of his enlistment in the Forces, in view of the fact that Irish was not a school subject in the schools of Northern Ireland.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Ex-Servicemen's Examinations.
It would not be practicable nor would it be desirable to introduce the discrimination which the Deputy has in mind.
Does the Minister think it just to impose upon nationals who enlisted in the Army and who prior to their enlistment were resident in Northern Ireland, where there were no facilities for learning Irish, a handicap which those nationals normally resident in the Twenty-Six Counties have not to bear inasmuch as throughout their educational career Irish was readily available to them and, as a matter of fact, was compulsorily taught in the primary and secondary schools?
It is not true, as the Deputy suggests in his question, that Irish is not a school subject in the North. It is a school subject in a large number of schools and a big number of candidates from the North are able to fulfil the conditions for entrance to the Civil Service here.
And those who have not got it, through no fault of their own, can go whistle.