Awareness of known history in setting up new schools in some areas in Dublin

[Darren J. Prior]

I looked at the list of the primary and second-level Gaelscoileanna in Dublin today on the Gaelscoileanna Teo. website. There are nearly forty of them and they are continuing to grow in Dublin and nationally.

I was looking to see where they all are located and I found out that I think all of them in Dublin are located in areas with Gaelic history e.g. Tallaght (Tamhlacht), Clonsilla (Cluain Saileach), Cabra (Cabrach) etc.

I am starting this thread because a new Gaelscoil is planned to open in Tyrellstown in West Dublin in September and there is also a campaign for a new Gaelscoil in Carpenterstown in the same region.

I would like to see the Gaelscoileanna grow in Ireland but be overhauled.

However I don't think that Gaelscoileanna being Gaelic schools should be built in areas where there is no recorded Gaelic history.

There is no evidence of any Gaelic families living in the areas now known as Tyrellstown and Carpenterstown prior to to the Normans or their close descendents invading this part of North-West Dublin and taking the land as their own.

I wouldn't have a problem on this score with the Gaelscoil planned for Tyrellstown being built which I wanted since I heard about the campaign two or three years ago in some part of (real) Mulhuddart (Mullach Eadrad) and the Gaelscoil proposed for Carpenterstown being built in some other part of (real) Castleknock (Caisleán Cnucha)....

What do YOU think?

[RobertW]

However I don't think that Gaelscoileanna being Gaelic schools should be built in areas where there is no recorded Gaelic history.

In fairness if you're a lover of the Irish language then that seems to me to be an absurd reason not to build Gaelscoileanna

[Cato]

I think that Riadach is going to kick your ass.

What's your justification for this premise?

However I don't think that Gaelscoileanna being Gaelic schools should be built in areas where there is no recorded Gaelic history.

[Darren J. Prior]

I think that Riadach is going to kick your ass.

What's your justification for this premise?

In fairness if you're a lover of the Irish language then that seems to me to be an absurd reason not to build Gaelscoileanna

I am a lover of History. Full stop.

[Cato]

I am a lover of History. Full stop.

That is no justification as it merely is a statement concerning yourself.

Try again.

[RobertW]

I am a lover of History. Full stop.

Love your history but quit living in the past.

[stopdoingstuff]

demand will determine these things

[Auntie Matter]

Let Gaelscoileanna be built wherever there is sufficient demand for Irish-medium education. The demographic profile of an area a thousand years ago is of no relevance whatsoever to the question of where schools should be established in 2012.

Having respect for and an interest in Irish are not restricted to those who can trace their Gaelic roots back to pre-Norman times.

These new schools are about the future of the Irish language, not the past.

[Riadach]

I am a lover of History. Full stop.

If you love history, it must be an anonymous sexual encounter because you have absolutely no knowledge of it!

The names of towns have never been decided by those who lived or did not live in an area, only the local lords did that. The fact that a town survives only in English only demonstrates that an earlier Irish name has been subsumed or lost.

But even if it were the case, the argument would still be nonsense. The only requirement for a Gaelscoil should be that there's enough children living locally who will attend it.

[Darren J. Prior]

demand will determine these things

Can anyone who knows Tyrellstown well or fairly well enlighten us to how many immigrants there are proportionally in the area? Because the last time I was up there I was canvassing for a party and 70%+ of the residents there were immigrants who were not registered to vote. This is another reason not to set up a Gaelscoil in the area I believe, although the school could be reflective of the population, but perhaps we should leave debating this question in depth to another thread?