Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 18 Oct 1994

Vol. 445 No. 9

Written Answers. - Leaving Certificate Statistics.

John Bruton

Ceist:

245 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Education the proportion of leaving certificate students who take German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese; and the targets, if any, she has to increase this proportion over the next five years. [1462/94]

Minister for Education (Ms Bhreathnach)

Details of the proportion of students who took German, Spanish and Italian in the Leaving Certificate examinations in 1994, 1993 and 1992 are set out as follows.

Year	1994	1993	1992
Total candidature	59,759	57,229	55,179
% who took German	18.25%	13.70%	9.70%
% who took Spanish	2.25%	2.20%	2.40%
% who took Italian	0.19%	0.20%	0.15%

In recent years, as can be seen from the table, there has been a great increase in the numbers taking German. My Department encourages schools to provide tuition in German, Spanish and Italian but there are no specific targets set in this respect.

The position regarding Portuguese is that it is not an approved subject to the leaving certificate examination. However, because of its status as an official EU language, my Department occasionally provides examinations for students who are native speakers of the language. In these exceptional circumstances, examinations of written work only, at the standard of leaving certificate higher level, are provided.