This matter concerns an Irish emigrant who lived and worked in Australia for 33 years. He taught in a high school there and has fluent Irish which he taught to other emigrants. His ambition was to return to Ireland to teach Irish in the school system. At his own expense, he returned and successfully pursued the Ceard Teastas i nGaeilge. In April 1997 he replied to a public advertisement to be admitted to the Teastas i dTeanga na Gaeilge course, which would enable him to teach Irish in the school system here. On 6 June 1997 he was informed in writing by the Department of Education that he had been accepted on the course and he should attend at Galway Regional Technical College on 1 July for its commencement.
He returned from Australia and on the first day of the course, after he had attended the introductory lecture and while he was attending the first part, he was called out by a Department of Education official, informed that a mistake had been made and that he should not have been admitted to the course because he did not have Irish or a subject studied through Irish in his primary degree. I appreciate an oversight can occur in any situation, but it is difficult to accept this was a mere oversight by the Department of Education and Science.
It was clear from the man's application form that he did not have Irish in his primary degree. In addition, when submitting the application, he wrote a covering letter drawing attention to this fact and pointing out that it was the reason he was applying to do the TTG in the first place. A paragraph in the letter stated:
Táim cáilithe mar mhúinteoir cheanna féin agus tá BA bainte amach agam. Ach ni féidir Gaeilge a bheith mar ábhar céime san Austráil. Sin í an fhaidhb agus is é sin freisin an fáth gur dheineas an Cheárd Teastas.
It was clear the man was drawing attention to the fact he did not have Irish because he could not do a degree in Irish in Australia and that was why he was applying to do the TTG.
Despite protests from the man the Department held firm and it was not until after I raised the matter in a Dáil question on 14 October that a written explanation was given to him as to why he was taken off the course. The Minister's reply to my question — I accept it was unintentional — was inaccurate. The Minister stated the man in question was informed of the position immediately prior to the commencement of the course. That was not the case. As I already explained, he had started the course when he was told.
This man has suffered considerable financial loss by returning from Australia to attend this course. He has also made career decisions based on the fact that he was accepted on the course and had expected to teach Irish in a school here. These decisions are now in shreds and he has been considerably financially disadvantaged as a result. He is now teaching as an unqualified teacher in a school here at considerable financial loss. He has been greatly penalised by the decision made by the Department of Education and Science over which he had no control.
I ask the Minister of State, Deputy Treacy, to take a personal interest in this case. I want him to make a decision to allow the man to be admitted to the TTG course in 1998. I also ask him to have his officials meet the man and make whatever arrangements are necessary to put his teaching career back on track and to recompense him for the financial losses he has incurred.
The treatment of this man has been scandalous. He was an emigrant who kept alive his knowledge and fluency of the Irish language, who passed it on to other emigrants through teaching and who wanted to come back here in the latter years of his life to teach in a school. Not only was he confronted by the petty regulations which state that he could not do the course because he did not have Irish in his primary degree, but when he was accepted on the course and came back here at his own expense he was then taken off it.
I want the Minister to take a personal interest in this case and to give whatever direction is necessary to his officials to put this man back on the course for 1998.