Irish-language schools on the rise

Naiscoil Thaoilinn is thriving despite last year's arson attack

Irish-medium education is on the rise in Poleglass, West Belfast, as more parents seek to have their children educated in their native tongue.

With the assistance of the Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta development team, representatives of Naiscoil Thaoilinn have been on the streets of the Poleglass area as part of a recruitment and awareness campaign. Public support has been so enthusiastic that the school committee and staff are now confident that an Irish-medium primary school will be opening in the area in September of this year.

Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta spokesperson for Poleglass, Proinsias MacCionnaith, says the growing demand for Irish education in the Poleglass area echoes calls from parents throughout the North.

"Parents in many areas across the Six Counties approach us regularly. They recognise the advantages of Irish-medium education and wish for their children to be educated and brought up in a bilingual environment," he said.

"These parents realise that learning a further language at an early age is very beneficial to the child, not only academically but also in terms of social skills — such as enhanced self-confidence and the ability to learn and use a third language with ease.

Research on the form of education used in Irish-language schools has shown many potential advantages to a child's development. Children educated in more than one language tend to be more creative thinkers, have increased sensitivity to the needs of listeners, and score higher on IQ tests than monoligual children.

Studies conducted by Canadian researchers also show that a second language can help a child learn to read, by allowing them to be less fixed on sound and more centred on the meaning of a word.

Many schools throughout the north have had to fight to receive state funding for the programmes as well as occasionally finding themselves the targets of sectarian attacks or from disenfranchised local youths.

In September of last year, one of two mobile classrooms at Naiscoil Thaoilinn was destroyed by vandals in an arson attack. The mobile was completely gutted and the second classroom suffered scorch damage.

But the children who were attending the nursery school at the time are now moving to primary school, where it seems many more will be joining them.