Is teaching Irish to children just “hanging onto the past”? 

The Estonian Government has recently annnounced that all new schools in the country would teach through Estonian - not Russian - and Lunchtime Live listeners rang up to give their views on whether Ireland should do likewise. 

One father, Richard, said while his daughter speaks Irish “beautifully”, he thinks there are far more important things she could learn at school. 

“When I’m looking at what I want her to become in the future, I’m looking at her doing STEM subjects and technology subjects and learning Spanish or English at a high level… that will allow her to go out and thrive,” he said. 

“I think the idea of teaching a language [that] is such a minority language now is hanging onto the past when we can spend time looking at the future.” 

Richard does not believe Irish should be compulsory and is concerned the language is “so alien” to the children of immigrants who now live in the country. 

Benefits of bilingualism

Gaeilgeoir and former Irish teacher Chris described not learning more than one language as a “lazy attitude”. 

“Obviously, it [English] is a very useful language, it’s the language of business, it’s the language of the internet and media around the world,” he said. 

“But are we really saying we want everywhere to be the same? Are we really saying we want every single country to have the same language, the same culture, everything monolingual?” 

Chris said mandating Estonian as the language of instruction in all schools was an “interesting concept” and said there are huge benefits to children who speak multiple languages. 

“We know that that impacts their futures,” he said. 

“They get better employment opportunities, better cognitive communication skills. 

“All of these things that are associated with bilingual education.

“Never mind the fact that it is our own language, our national language, the language of the island and that we should be proud of it.”

An Ghaeltacht sign. Achill Island, County Mayo, Connaught, Ireland.

Chris said there is “huge demand” for Irish-medium education but switching the language of instruction in schools would take many years. 

“It’s not something that you’re talking about doing overnight,” he said. 

“Most importantly, we’re not talking about displacing any teachers that are in English-medium schools at the moment. 

“This is something that you start at the bottom up.” 

Eight percent of primary school children are educated through the medium of Irish.

Main image: An Irish speaking primary school child.