Almost 25% of primary teachers deficient in Irish

ALMOST a quarter of primary school pupils are being taught by teachers with poor use of Irish, according to Department of Education inspectors.

In a worrying study of how Irish is being taught in 40 primary schools, the department found that almost one-in-four teachers had weaknesses in their own language competency and 9% of teachers had “significant deficiencies in their ability to teach Irish”.

The inspections were carried out in 2005, a year after a significant revision of the Irish curriculum.