I am 48 now and it feels like forever ago, but I remember feeling really shy.

Children who want to be taught through Irish will have to be driven past a local school on Cork’s northside to others several miles away because of a one-third cut in intake, a councillor has claimed.

For teachers who welcome back the girls to classes at Scoil Aiséirí Chríost in Farranree, Cork City, next week, the differences will be noticeable in the dozens who were at the school’s summer camp to improve reading and maths skills.