Save Coláiste Lú NOW Minister McHugh
You are the last hope for them
Conradh na Gaeilge will stand with the students and parents of Coláiste Lú today, Wednesday, at 12.00 outside Dáil Éireann when they call on the Minister for Education, Joe McHugh, TD, to stand in and urgently resolve the terrible situation in which they find themselves.
Dr Niall Comer, President of Conradh na Gaeilge, said:
“It is unacceptable that the students and parents of Coláiste Lú have been left in the position that they have to travel to Dublin today to look for their rights to Irish-medium education, as they had been before the summer school break. Conradh na Gaeilge stands with them and we strongly support their call to the Minister for Education and Skills, Joe McHugh, TD, to stand in now and look after them in a humane and satisfactory manner”.
Conchúr Ó Muadaigh, Advocacy Manager of Conradh na Gaeilge, said:
“The future of Coláiste Lú and the future of second level education through the medium of Irish for this area are at grave risk. Direct action by the Minister and the Department of Education and Skills is required to solve this problem. There have already been suggestions for solutions submitted to them that they could develop but the question is whether they are willing to act on them in time before the school closes and the parents find themselves having to move their children to other schools that operate through the medium of English. That would be a disaster.
We believe that the Minister is very interested in the Irish language and we are relying on him to act now to build confidence among the students and parents and to start a plan immediately to save Coláiste Lú, or another satisfactory arrangement for the parents and students".
This is another indication of the lack of satisfactory planning for Irish in the education system and the need for a comprehensive policy for Irish in the education system from pre-school to third level, as recently sought by the #Gaeilge4All campaign.
