Teacher training centre ‘still in planning stages’

A TRAINING centre for 3,000 teachers in the country’s Gaeltacht and all-Irish schools is still in the planning stages seven years after it was first announced.

Former Fine Gael TD and Mayor of County Cork Michael Creed claimed that Education Minister Mary Hanafin is trying to have the centre - proposed for Ballyvourney in the mid-Cork Gaeltacht - moved to her constituency.

Michael Woods turned the sod on the proposed e1.9 million education centre on the site of the former second level school at Coláiste Iosagáin in Ballyvourney, Co Cork, in June, 2000, seven months after it was announced by his predecessor as Education Minister, Micheál Martin.

The project appeared on Communications Minister Noel Dempsey’s school building programme in December 2003 but the Department of Education claims that plans were put on hold when tender prices submitted were excessive.

The matter has been discussed again at senior levels within the department in the past week and a decision on how to proceed is expected shortly.

Mr Creed said he believes the minister wants to move the centre to her own constituency of Dún Laoghaire, despite almost €400,000 of State funding having already been spent on planning the project.

“It’s ironic that the Government is questioning Fine Gael’s commitment to the Irish language when they have yet to honour a commitment made in 2000 to help improve the teaching of Irish, after a report last year highlighted the low level of competence in the language among young people leaving school,” he said.

A spokesperson for Ms Hanafin said that moving the centre to her constituency is not a consideration.

She said discussions about the national education centre for Irish in Ballyvourney are taking place between the Department of Education, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Minister Éamon Ó Cuív’s department, Údarás na Gaeltachta - which owns the site - and Foras na Gaeilge.

The Department of Education has sought submissions from interested parties, including An Comhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta, a statutory body which supports primary and second-level schools where students learn entirely through Irish.

Its chief executive Muireann Ní Mhóráin said the location is not hugely important, but that part-time education centres in other Gaeltacht areas might also be helpful. Only around 80 of the country’s 350 all-Irish schools are in Munster and almost 19,000 of their 47,500 pupils are taught in Ulster and Connacht.

Former Irish National Teachers’ Organisation general secretary Senator Joe O’Toole has called for a Seanad debate on the issue.

“Like every other great idea ever formed about Irish, nobody wants to hear or do anything about it if acting on it does not have some impact on the east coast,” he said.