The learning of the Irish language in Ireland should be non-compulsory during the senior cycle

I thank PurpleHaze for this debate. "I didn't see that in your resolution. You gave a brief overview in which you brought this point to the voters attention, but nowhere did you say it would need to be changed. The only thing you argued in round one was that Irish should not be compulsory for the leaving cert." --> It would be an obvious knock on effect. Make Irish non-compulsory, they'd obviously be pressured into reducing the need for Irish in many courses. They would lose alot of students who would no longer take Irish if they did. "So you would have that percentage fall, rather than rise. Personally I think it is a disgrace that so small a number would regard themselves as competent after so much study, but one argument that is often made for the compulsory learning of Irish, is that it would generate an interest in the subject which may cause people to volunteer to send their children to Irish medium schools." --> Irish would still be compulsory up to 3rd year, wherein a student decides if they have enough interest in the language to study it further. Students would still learn it up to 3rd year. The numbers would not fall, at least not greatly. "Can you think of any other reason that might be the cause of this rise in interst" --> Students attend these because of the fact is one of the 3 base requirements for most college courses. The necessity and importance of Irish is huge, and students often struggle, meaning they turn to Gaelthacts to learn it. "If not, do you see this as a bad thing? There are many studies to suggest that early learning of a second language greatly improves ones mental abilities." --> This maybe true, but students will only be missing out on 2 years of Irish, hardly impeding the mind. Furthermore, most, if not all, will still be doing a secondary language for college requirements. "You might aswell be purging our libraries and schools of everything Irish. As you have said, all that is covered up to junior cert is basic conversational Irish. It is not until leaving cert that you are exposed to some of the great Irish works. And from my experience, you cannot develop an interest in something until you have come in contact with it. Why even bother learning Irish up to junior cert if you do not intend to put it to use?" --> Great works of Irish? Learning poems and long stories is often a difficult part of a language. It's hardly a great work to someone who can only minimally translate it, and is learning completely new vocabulary through a poem or story. And this is from my experience. The Junior Cert. handles most if not all, real life encounters one would have in Irish. "What? Is that not the only way that a government should be able to make decisions regarding the population it governs?" --> It should, but people under 18, the people who have to learn it, have no say in the matter. They have no vote whatsoever. They are making decisions students have no control over. "Your logic is incorrect as the majority of Irish people will have already come in contact with Irish dance, Irish history and Irish music enough to know whether they have an interest in it or not, so there would be no need to have these subjects as compulsory. Whereas with the language itself, it takes up until junior certificate to develop a basic use of the language, after which point you are exposed to some of the Irish works. I believe that the exposure of students to these works should be compulsory as they would not know whether they would be interested in them or not prior to exposure." --> Firstly, Junior Cert. is the 11th year of exposure to Irish, from Junior Infants to 3rd year. I think most 15 year olds are mature enough to make a logical decision based on there experience. The Junior Cert involves knowing a poem and a short story, which exposes them to some works, meaning they can make a decision, if the 11 years of exposure was not enough. "And Irish history is taught in the final years of primary school and learning Irish dance and Irish music is highly encouraged. In my primary school for example, anyone who wished to learn Irish music was left out of class for the last two hours of every friday to do so, which was encouragement enough for me anyway" --> Teaching of Irish Music, History and Dancing varies from school to school, and indeed, teacher to teacher. My school had no such encouragement, as many other schools. As for Irish History, most of that is covered in History, which is optional. You learn about Celtic Ireland all the way up to Modern Ireland in Junior Certificate history. "Whats your point?" --> That the nationalist, patriotic stance that you should learn your native Irish, isn't actually Irish.