‘Unacceptable’ Derry Irish schools have to educate pupils in portable cabins in 2024, says Delargy

Transcript

00:00 I want to begin today by thanking the Education Minister for his speech yesterday

00:04 and to take this opportunity to engage with that. I think it was a very positive speech

00:08 and the key word which stood out at me was opportunity. Each one of us in this Assembly

00:14 have the opportunity to make a real change for Irish medium education. That means working as

00:19 an Education Committee and it also means working with the Education Minister.

00:25 I have three Gaelscóilne in my area who are all fantastic. Each of their unique attributes,

00:31 their unique ethos but one of the things that they have in common is that they all punch well

00:36 above their weight in sport, in music and in academia and that's one of the many reasons why

00:41 so many parents have bought into them because they've seen what they've done for their children,

00:47 for their community and for our entire city. But one of the other things that they have in common

00:52 is the fact that all three Gaelscóilne in Derry continue to have their children educated in

00:58 Porter Cabins. That wasn't acceptable in 1980, it isn't acceptable in 2000 and it certainly is not

01:04 acceptable in 2024. So there's an ethical reason why we need to do this but there's also a financial

01:12 reason and all of the parties in here came together last week and agreed that financially we have been

01:18 hamstrung by the Tory government in London and that we need to come together to oppose that.

01:22 But financially we also need to make a decision to properly fund education to make sure that our

01:28 Gaelscóilne and many other schools across the north aren't crippled by soaring maintenance costs.

01:34 You see it is within our gift to ensure that all our schools reach their full potential,

01:40 it's within our gift to make that happen and one of the things which was very clear yesterday is

01:46 that the Education Minister has a desire to do that and I welcome that very much because what

01:52 we have to do is work collectively to ensure that every child has not just a fair start in life

01:57 but the best start in life and I want that for children in Gaelscóil Aidenmoor, in Gaelscóil

02:03 Na Darga and in Bunscóil Colmcille. I want that for children in every school across the north

02:09 because we can see what they deserve, that's what they deserve for our children, for our families

02:14 and for our communities.