Schools struggle to find Irish language textbooks

ALL-IRISH schools have difficulty getting textbooks in the language despite huge Government spending on unread translations of official reports, Senator Joe O’Toole claimed yesterday.

In a letter to Education Minister Mary Hanafin seeking immediate progress on the sidelined €1.9 million all-Irish education centre planned for the Co Cork Gaeltacht, he said schools are struggling to teach subjects through Irish without Irish language texts.

“This is a problem not just for the all-Irish schools but also for the many schools that would like to teach certain aspects of the curriculum through Irish, but who can’t access appropriate textbooks, apparatus and information technology to support such initiatives,” Mr O’Toole said.