O’Keeffe told to deliver promise on all-Irish support facility

A CAMPAIGN for a support centre for all-Irish schools is to place pressure on Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe to deliver the facility promised nine years ago in his own constituency.

His predecessor, Mary Hanafin, announced 14 months ago that four staff would be assigned to the former Coláiste Íosagáin in Ballyvourney in the Muskerry Gaeltacht. But they have not yet been appointed as promised to the Comhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta (COGG), a statutory body whose role is to help and develop the teaching of children in all-Irish schools and the teaching of Irish generally.

The plans were a significant reduction on those announced by former Education Minister Micheál Martin in 1999 to develop an all-Irish education centre at the site, which could have involved up to 30 staff.