Mum angry as son denied Irish-language school place
By Simon Doyle
Irish News
03/07/2009
A woman whose son was denied a place in a popular Irish-language secondary school has spoken of her frustration and anger that there is no suitable alternative.
Pupils leaving Irish-medium primary schools in both Lurgan and Portadown, Co Armagh, missed out on places in An Sruth Gaeilge at St Catherine’s College in Armagh city.
There are only 25 places in the unit, which provides Irish-medium education for those who wish to build on the language competences acquired in bunscoileanna.
The unit, however, was oversubscribed this year, meaning that some children were turned away.
Ann McConville said her son Eoin-Roe Tennyson (11) was devastated to be told he had not been admitted to the unit. While St Catherine’s is an all-girls school, the Irish unit is coeducational.
Six of the eight P7 children at Bunscoil Eoin Baiste in Portadown were awarded places.
Ms McConville said Eoin-Roe’s whole educational experience had been through the medium of the Irish language and they had expected this to continue in September.
“This was not an unreasonable expectation on either my part or that of my son, as that has been the case for pupils transferring from all the various bunscoilenna in Co Armagh in previous years,” she said.
“My son’s expectations have been cruelly smashed this year, as the powers that be have decided there will be a limit on the number of pupils entering Colaiste Caitriona.
“The result is that there is no place available for my son or another one of his fellow pupils from Bunscoil Eoin Baiste in Portadown.”
Ms McConville said her son would be forced to learn basic Irish in an English-medium school from next year, when he could have been working towards a GCSE.
Plans to open a new Irish-medium post-primary school in Armagh are not expected to be realised until next year.
Ms McConville said a lack of secondary places in Co Armagh could force parents considering sending their children to an Irish nursery or primary to reconsider.
She said she had appealed the school’s decision not to award a place but this appeal would not be heard until next month.
“As for the much heralded matter of parental choice, I think that my experience and that of my son shows that it is virtually non-existent in the Irish-medium sector,” Ms McConville said.
Deirdre McDonald, principal of St Catherine’s, said it would be inappropriate to comment on the situation given that there was an appeals process.
'So venceremos, beidh bua againn eigin lá eigin. Sealadaigh abú.'
--Bobby Sands