CLASS TV. (Hansard, 5 July 1897)

§ MR. JOHN DILLON (Mayo, E.)
, called attention to the question of the teaching of Irish in the primary schools of Ireland. It was, he contended, ill a very unsatisfactory and unfair condition. It was impossible properly to instruct children in the schools in the Galway and other Irish speaking districts unless the teachers themselves spoke Irish and used to the children the language they themselves heard used in their own homes. Instruction ought to be conveyed to the children in their native tongue and he maintained the intellect of these children was crippled and their instruction interfered with by the fact that an attempt was made to teach them in what was to them an absolutely foreign tongue. In the districts of Clare, Galway, Mayo, Donegal, and other counties, many people only spoke the Irish language, the rest of the population being bilingual. He maintained that in all districts where the majority or a large proportion of the school children came from homes where Irish was spoken, the teachers ought to he Irish-speaking teachers, so that they should be required to explain the English 1186 language and that other information which they had to impart through the medium of the tongue which was familiar to the children. The Chief Secretary seemed to have a prejudice against the ancient tongue of Ireland. He had never been in favour of depriving the people of Ireland of the opportunity of acquiring the English tongue. To deprive them of the opportunity would be a great mistake, as it was to their advantage to know English. But in the west of Ireland, there were over half-a-million people whose education was injuriously affected by the fact that they were treated as if they were an English-speaking people. He wanted them to be taught English through the medium of their native tongue. It was a disgrace to the so-called national system of education in Ireland, that more teachers were riot Irish-speaking, and he trusted that the Chief Secretary would lay aside his apparent prejudice and instruct the Education Board to adopt what the Irish Members believed to be the true principles of education.

§ SIR THOMAS ESMONDE (Kerry, W.)
suggested that statistics should be obtained of the number of Trish-speaking children in primary schools. It would be interesting awl important to know year by year whether the number of children who spoke Irish was increasing or diminishing. Statistics should also be presented annually of the number of teachers who spoke Irish, so that they might see whether there was any increase or diminution. There was a great anxiety in Ireland to preserve the Irish language, which should be made part of the classical education of the people.

§ MR. J. G. WEIR (Ross and Cromarty)
expressed sympathy with the Members front Ireland who had spoken. Children in Ireland and in the Highlands should be taught English through their mother tongue—Irish or Gaelic. Teachers who spoke Irish or Gaelic should be appointed by the Education Department.

§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. GERALD BALFOUR,) Leeds, central
assured the hon. Member for East that he had no prejudice against the teaching of Irish. He once tried to learn it himself, but he found it so difficult that he was obliged to give up the task. As to the use of Irish as the native language in Ireland, the hon. 1187 Member seemed to hold that it would be a good thing if the proportion of Irish-speaking teachers in Ireland were increased as compared with English-speaking teachers.

§ MR. DILLON
said all he wanted was that there should be no attempt to stamp out the language.

§ MR. GERALD BALFOUR
said if the hon. Member meant that where the children spoke Irish they should be taught English by means of their own language, he did not altogether differ from him. It might be a. good thing that there should be a certain proportion of teachers able to speak the Irish language in districts where it was needed. He was afraid, however, that they could not make a hard-and-fast rule as the capacity of such teachers in other directions was likely to be inferior. He would remind the hon. Member that it was a question also for the decision of the National Commissioners. He had no desire to crush out the knowledge of the Irish tongue in those parts of Ireland where it was spoken.