We should not let our native language die out

WE HAVE a problem with how Irish is taught in this country.

How is it that almost an entire nation can go through 14 years of education and still leave school with only the bare cúpla focail?

The exception to this, of course, is schools in the Gaeltacht and in the gaelscoileanna around the country. But why?

I would contend the root cause lies in the teaching of Irish, the teachers and how those teachers are taught.

In 2019, every person who has been through the Irish education system ought to be fluent in their native language, one of the oldest in Europe.

After all it has survived hundreds of years of occupation, multiple uprisings and a civil war.

The question is can it survive our own education system?

We must not let it become a thing of the past. Luca Whelan

Churchtown, Dublin 14