Spoken Irish More Important At School

The marks at Higher and Ordinary levels in the Leaving Cert examination will be increased from 25% to 40%.

Marks for the aural will be reduced to 10% at both Higher and Ordinary levels, which means that the written element of the paper will be worth 50% of the marks.

The new marking system will come into effect for students entering second level this September and will apply to those taking the Leaving Cert in 2012. 

Announcing the reforms, Minister Hanafin said "I have consistently stated that the way to bring a language to life is to be able to converse in it every day.

"These changes are intended to improve spoken Irish in post-primary schools by increasing the marks for the oral element of the examination.

"This is the first time since oral Irish was introduced in the Leaving Cert that the marks have increased. I hope that students and teachers will now embrace Irish fully as a living language."

The changes will also apply to the Junior Cert, where the oral examination is a school-based, optional exam. In the case of the Junior Cert oral, the marks will be doubled, from 20% to 40%.

At the current time, only a small number of schools actually organise the optional Junior Cert assessment and, where no oral exam is held, marks are awarded on the  basis of the written paper and aural only. 

In addition, Minister Hanafin also announced the introduction of summer camps in Irish for the first two weeks of July 2007.

These camps will be available for up to 600 primary school children from disadvantaged areas.

Children attending these Campaí Samhraidh will have an opportunity to learn and practise Irish in the context of a range of enjoyable activities, including drama, art, music and sport.