Conor McGregor’s critics have at least been consistent. All talk, not enough action, they say.

Can I deduce from the school “league tables” that if the pupils from schools where a minority proceed to third-level education were transferred to fee-paying schools or Gaelscoileanna, that virtually all of these pupils would then all go on to third-level and capture many of the places on high points entry courses?

The timescale for the first hand-overs of Catholic schools in areas where parents want more choice will be revealed by Education Minister Ruairi Quinn today.

I don’t think the Government should resurrect Enda Kenny’s proposal to downgrade Irish at senior level (Matt Cooper, Feb 24), but it should revisit the counterproductive and asinine decision to scrap continental languages in national schools.

PARENTS of Muslim children would like greater provision by schools to facilitate prayer and flexibility around their religious holidays.

A range of groups jostling for a larger slice of the patronage of Irish primary schools will begin presenting their case to the Department of Education today.

TWO groups involved in the country’s growing number of gaelscoileanna have rejected the report on future primary school provision, claiming it blocks children’s chances of an all-Irish education.

THE loss of teachers in dozens of Gaelscoils will create larger classes and make all-Irish primary schools less viable, it has been claimed.

A MAN has been honoured for teaching thousands of people to speak in their native tongue over a 50-year period.

The Green Party tonight backed Government cuts in the education sector but said it wanted future changes in how schools are funded.

Ten organisations involved in the country’s primary schools today joined forces to demand education cuts in the Budget be withdrawn.

PLANS to review the way schools are recognised for state funding and buildings have been criticised by the head of the primary gaelscoil movement.

THE FAI should be commended for its announcement that the original version of the country’s name, Éire, should be featured on international jerseys during the forthcoming World Cup campaign.

CHILDREN who do not learn English in the first year or two at all-Irish primary schools go on to acquire better reading skills than other pupils, research has found.

IN his letter (November 26), Maurice Fitzgerald refers, erroneously, to Irish-only schools being opposed to the teaching of English.

IN his letter published on November 26, Maurice Fitzgerald unfairly attacked the Irish medium education sector in an intemperate assault on faith-based schools and their role in Irish education.

EDUCATION Minister Mary Hanafin has rejected calls to withdraw a directive that pupils of all-Irish schools should be taught English from the second term of junior infants.

PARENTS of Gaelscoil pupils have given their backing to the policy of teaching no English for up to two years, despite a directive from Education Minister Mary Hanafin that schools should end the practice from next year.

A DIRECTIVE from Education Minister Mary Hanafin that Gaelscoileanna should begin teaching English to pupils no later than the second term of junior infants has been subjected to legal challenge.

WHO does Education Minister Mary Hanafin think she is in issuing an order to all Gaelscoileanna that they must teach English to all of their students. Compulsory English!

GAELSCOILEANNA that have traditionally not taught English until after junior infants will be given a year’s grace to introduce a policy under which the subject must be taught after the first term of school.

A DIRECTIVE to all-Irish schools from Education Minister Mary Hanafin that they must begin teaching English to children no later than the second term of junior infants is not to be issued until after the election.

A MAJOR row has erupted between parents and schools over proposed changes to rules on the teaching of English in all-Irish schools.

THE policy of some Gaelscoileanna and Gaeltacht schools to not teach English to pupils until they reach senior infants has been supported in official advice to Education Minister Mary Hanafin.

OVER €19 million has been spent on renting temporary prefabricated buildings for primary and secondary schools this year — prompting concerns that “prefab villages” are becoming an accepted norm.

LARGE-SCALE investment is needed to modernise school infrastructure to cater for the growing population and special needs pupils, a senior minister said yesterday.

I WAS disgusted recently to receive a request from our local Gaelscoil to sign a Glór na nGael petition against Fine Gael policy on compulsory Irish.

PRIMARY schools are to receive extra supports for the teaching of Irish in order to strengthen the language, Education Minister Mary Hanafin announced yesterday.

THE €1.9 million education centre to support teachers working in all-Irish schools should go ahead as planned, the head of the Gaelscoileanna organisation said yesterday.

THE teaching of Irish as a second language at second level is not infrequently associated with frustration.

SOME 200 Irish-language activists marched on the Fine Gael headquarters in Dublin to protest against Enda Kenny’s proposals to drop compulsory Irish for the Leaving Certificate.

THE Department of Education has received applications for the opening of 16 new schools next September.

A new survey published today shows students in Irish language schools are performing better than children in standard schools.

TWO teacher training centres which cost €2 million to refurbish in the past three years should be closed, a report has recommended.