Irish Examiner view: Decision on English language schools may impact economy 

Higher education minister James Lawless said there were 'suggestions of courses where you’d go into a classroom, there’d be maybe two students there and a class of 100 on the roll'.

Yesterday, we learned that the Government is planning to target English language schools which are not focused on teaching newcomers to Ireland the basics of grammar but are, in the words of higher education minister James Lawless, a “convenient backdoor for immigration”.

There has been a good deal of speculation about the exact nature of some such schools, and whether they are truly educational establishments rather than “convenient backdoors” for workers, in the minister’s phrase.

He himself was happy to use anecdotal evidence when discussing the matter.

As reported by Tadgh McNally and Sean Murray, Mr Lawless said there were “suggestions of courses where you’d go into a classroom, there’d be maybe two students there and a class of 100 on the roll”.

As a consequence, the Government plans to introduce a new quality mark for higher education institutions, which will be known as TrustEd Ireland, to ensure such language schools are operating properly.

Clearly, if some schools are not teaching their students but facilitating access to employment, then this needs to be addressed.

The education sector in general has certainly been buffeted in recent days, with standards and practices being questioned. Mr Lawless has announced, for instance, that responsibility for electrical apprentice exams is to be taken away from training agency Solas and given to technological universities and education and training boards, after concerns arose that examination papers were being sold.

There may be wider consequences arising from the new proposals for English language schools. Students at those schools are legally entitled to work 20 hours a week, and with the National Economic and Social Council reporting the pressing need for migrant workers, positions now filled by such students may be left vacant if the new proposals result in some language schools closing.

It would be illuminating if the economy suffers because workers in the country under false pretences are no longer available. The Government may find this is a challenge which goes beyond tightening standards at language schools.

Promised works need to happen

With a new year looming large, this is a time of resolutions and decisions, of turning over a new leaf and planning changes for 2026.

For a significant number of people, this week will also usher in yet another year of fear and concern about the prospect of being flooded. The public consultation on the Accelerating Infrastructure plan has received plenty of submissions from those in the southern part of the country, such as those in East Cork and parts of Cork City which have suffered serious flooding incidents in recent years.

Documents published by the Department of Public Expenditure show the depth of feeling when it comes to the slow progress of flood mitigation measures in those areas.

One correspondent in East Cork said their home had been inundated by three feet of floodwater in October 2023 and pointed out that they had waited since before 2015 for a flood relief scheme: “We cannot feel safe in our own house or enjoy the home we have built. The planning around the flood relief scheme should be treated as an emergency to protect 900-plus homes impacted and emergency legislation should be enacted to save lives and homes.”

Readers will recognise that October 2023 was the occasion on which Storm Babet wrought havoc in Midleton and surrounding areas of East Cork, causing millions of euro worth of damage.

Little wonder that some of those making submissions referred to fears for the safety of their family and property alike whenever there is heavy rain.

When Storm Babet hit Cork over two years ago, there was no shortage of political figures on hand to give assurances to people who had been flooded. However, those same people continue to live in fear, without adequate flood relief works. One submission to the Accelerating Infrastructure plan was stark in its simplicity: “We do not feel completely safe in our own home at the moment.”

That is no way for people to live. These works should be undertaken and completed as a matter of urgency.

Icon of the ’60s left her mark

Brigitte Bardot died last weekend at the age of 91. Fittingly, she passed away in Saint-Tropez, the seaside resort in the South of France made famous by its association with the actress, who was a byword for glamour and sex appeal.

Such a bland summary hardly does justice, in fact, to Bardot’s impact. In the film And God Created Woman in 1956, she had a huge impact on the viewing public, playing a carefree teenager romping around Saint-Tropez, but in truth, her movie career was largely forgettable after that.

Still, her look — the famously tousled hair and dark eye makeup — was hugely influential, leading thousands of women to try something similar in the ’60s, while the space she occupied in the French public consciousness is hard to overstate.

Simone de Beauvoir wrote essays about her, and in 1969, she was chosen as the real-life model for Marianne, the symbol of the French republic.

Bardot retired from acting in the ’70s and devoted herself to protecting animals, but later, public pronouncements on immigration, Islam and homosexuality led to convictions for incitement to hatred, and her passing led to several tributes from far-right figures such as French politician Marine Le Pen.

A long way from the blonde hairdo and black eyeshadow of the 1950s.

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