Educational Disadvantage
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-26
============================================================

Shane Moynihan (FF), Dublin Mid-West

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit as an freagra sin. I thank the Minister of State for taking this Topical Issue. I am a little disappointed the response did not refer to Gaelscoil Lir and that is something I will raise with the Department, given that was the particular schooled I raised in this instance. I draw attention to the fact that Gaelscoil Lir is quite unique in where it is located. It is located beside an IPAS centre and has a diversity of student backgrounds that have higher levels of special educational needs. It requires access to a home school liaison. It has scope to be one of the fastest growing schools in the Saggart-Citywest area and crucially, and this is something I have a particular interest in, it is also securing the language rights of families who want to send their children to an Irish-medium school. That is something we have to take seriously. I welcome the fact that DEIS strategy is being reviewed at the moment and will identify unique pockets of disadvantage but I also heartily encourage the Department and the Minister to seriously consider how the socioeconomic gaps that exist in areas around the country are also reflected for schools with Irish-medium education as well.
Sometimes there is an assumption that because a Gaelscoil is a Gaelscoil, it does not need access to support, the school completion programme or the home school liaison programme. We have to disabuse ourselves of that notion because that is not true. Tá an-obair ar siúl ag foireann Ghaelscoil Lir. Tá an-dúshlán á shárú aici. An rud atá mise ag iarraidh sa Teach seo inniu ná go mbeidh tacaíocht ar fáil d’fhoireann, do thuismitheoirí agus do phobal scoile Gaelscoil Lir chun go mbeidh siad in ann freastal ar na riachtanais atá acu agus go mbeidh siad in ann freastal ar na daltaí atá ag dul ag an scoil sin. Tá mé ag iarraidh go mbeidh gach aon deis ag gach aon dalta sa scoil sin gach rud gur féidir leo a bhaint amach sa saol sa todhchaí agus go mbeidh an Stát ag tacú leo é sin a dhéanamh.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-26/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:42+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-26