The Social Democrats have said a Government decision not to open any new Gaescoileanna until 2032 has left parents “flabbergasted”. 

Falling birthrates mean the Department of Education has no plans for new schools - whether English or Irish medium. 

The decision comes amid strong demand for Irish language education, with many Gaelscoileanna receiving applications far in excess of the number of places available. 

On The Hard Shoulder, Social Democrats Education spokesperson Jen Cummins said the news has left many disappointed. 

“I think the challenge basically is that parents are flabbergasted by this,” he said. 

“In the education committee, we had two different sessions about the Irish language in schools. 

“And people were very kind of surprised by this because there's cross-party support for having Irish medium schools.”

A pupil walking to school with Granddad. Picture by: David James.

The news is understood to have caused some upset among the Government parties, with Minister for the Gaeltacht Dara Calleary describing himself as “not happy” with the decision. 

It is understood that Fianna Fáil TDs plan to lobby the Education Minister, Fine Gael’s Hildegarde Naughton. 

Deputy Cummins said if the Minister cannot be persuaded to change her mind, it will put the Government’s own language targets at risk. 

“The challenge now is that they're not going to open any Gaelcholáiste or a Gaescoil until 2032,” she said. 

“How will the Government reach its own targets of having 20% of the civil service, who are able to be proficient in Irish? How are they going to get there?”

In the meantime, if there is no Irish language provision in local areas, parents are free to lobby for a school to change the language of instruction. 

“For example, there's a school in Dublin 8, it's an all boys' school, English language,” Deputy Cummins said. 

“It's now going to change and they're going to open a Gaelcholáiste; it's going to be mixed and it's going to be Gaelcholáiste because that was a group that was set up [that lobbied for a change].”

Main image: Children at a primary school. Picture by: RollingNews.ie.