FG: Govt not meeting educational needs of foreign pupils

Fine Gael has accused the Government of failing to meet the educational needs of children whose first language is not English.

According to the Department of Education, there are some 18,000 pupils at primary and 8,000 at second-level whose mother tongue is not English.

Fine Gael's Education Spokesperson, Olwyn Enright, claimed the Government is leaving schools without the language support teachers needed to help those children with their English.