Gaeltacht students opting for flight option

School children taking the traditional summer trip to the Irish college are increasingly opting to fly to the Gaeltacht.

In a sign of the times, where the last bastion of old Eire meets modern Ireland, students are spurning the old rickety roads and winding mountain passes that take you there for a direct flight.

While the muinteoiri colaiste believe it’s all good as long as people are immersing themselves in the language and culture, the trend has angered environmentalists.

Frank Mor O'Maolain, teacher at Colaiste Bhride, in Rannafast in west Donegal, said there was a notable upturn in the number of students arriving at nearby Donegal Airport.

“It’s on the increase definitely,” he said.

Some colleges reported up to 5% of their summer students are now coming in by air, including Colaiste na Rosann, which advertises that it is only five minutes from the airport.

Others say the numbers are smaller but most have noticed more and more students coming, particularly from Dublin, on 40-minute flights into Donegal Airport.

“When you put petrol and everything else into it, it’s probably not a bad option,” said O Maolain.

“I had a parent last year who came up from Templeogue in Dublin with her two children. I picked them up at 1.30pm, we had lunch and she was back in Dublin for 3.45pm.

“It would have taken her two days dropping her children off if she was coming up by car. It’s definitely on the uptake.”

Pauline Sweeney, marketing manager at Donegal Airport, said students using the route were up in the last three to five years with dozens now making the flight every summer.

“It wouldn’t be anything like a full plane load of them but there is increased activity due to the colleges,” she said.

One-way tickets between Dublin and Donegal on the government-subsidised Public Service Obligation (PSO) route go for as little as €25.

Oisin Coughlan, Friends of the Earth, said the price is part of the problem in getting people to opt for more ecologically sound ways of travelling within Ireland.

“Buses and trains, which are in competition with the flights, don’t get as much subsidies and have to pay tax on their fuel. That’s just not fair,” he said.

“There’s is an element of personal responsibility here but also we have to change the incentive so it is always cheaper to take the less polluting option.”

Coughlan pleaded with today’s crop of young Irish college students to make their journey a greener one.

“A flight will be the single most polluting thing anyone will do this year. If you fly, your pollution is in a different league than if you take the bus,” he said.

“If you had to fly to hospital or to close a deal for hundreds of jobs then you can make an excuse for flying but if you’re going for a month to Irish college you have time to get the bus.”

However, Gearoid O Brosnachain, chairman of Concos, a federation of over 42 Irish summer Colleges, said those flying were few.

“I don’t think we’ll be putting in airstrips yet – or helicopter pads,” he said.