Anger over proposal to charge for oral Irish

PARENTS groups are angry over plans to charge students who want to take optional oral Irish in the Junior Cert.

The Department of Education and Skills will not pay any money to cover the cost of examiners even though it wants more schools to offer the oral test.

However, at talks with unions and managers last week, officials suggested schools could charge up to €10 per student.

But there are fears that if the principle of payment is accepted, students would be asked to pay extra for other optional parts of exams such as orals in French, German and Italian.

The oral fee would be in addition to the €103 charge that students already have to pay for sitting the Junior Cert.

The additional charge would be used to pay teachers to carry out the orals in their own schools or in schools nearby.

But last night the president of the National Parents' Council (post primary) Tommy Walshe said that charging extra for the orals was not acceptable.

"Many parents are not working and cannot afford to pay any more, even though they want to give their children the best education they can."

- John Walshe Education Editor

Irish Independent