Vol. 415 No. 1
447 Mr. Flanagan asked the Minister for Education if he will change the regulations regarding secondary school children whose primary and subsequent education up to the age of 14 was received outside of this jurisdiction so that such children will be exempt from learning Irish in secondary schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The present position is that the Rules for Secondary Schools require that the approved course for recognised pupils in secondary schools must include the subject Irish.
Under the rules, a child whose primary education up to 11 years of age was received in Northern Ireland or outside Ireland may be allowed to substitute any other subject from the list approved subject for Irish in order to make up the minimum number of subjects required.
Accordingly, children who received all of their education up to the age of 14 outside of this jurisdiction would be entitled to receive an exemption from studying Irish on request to my Department.
