State didn’t meet parents’ all-Irish education call

The Department of Education failed to meet its legal duties when it did not provide for demand for Irish-language education in deciding the patron of a new Dublin school, an Irish language commissioner investigation found.

Following An Coimisinéir Teanga Rónán Ó Domhnaill’s probe last year, he said the department is now going to recommend the patronage of another new school being established in the same Drumcondra/Marino area be awarded to An Foras Pátrúnachta.

Its proposal to be patron to a gaelscoil in the same part of Dublin’s north city was beaten by multi-denominational patron body, Educate Together, following a survey of local parents in 2016. The exercise was run by the department as one of several areas where it wanted to establish parental demand for the patronage of new schools being opened to cater for growing local populations.