Well, theres a General Election here in Ireland on the 24 May, and the politicans are well and truly on the last lap of the campaign trail. We're a bit rural to see them all, for those who don't make it to the door, here's something to think about.

In Moycullen we are on the edge of the Gaeltacht. Various institutions, such as the main primary school, have been struggling to retain that status with the encroachment of the Béarla 'burbs (suburbs of the Gaeltacht where English dominates).

Our children go to Baile Nua, the villages' gaelscoil. To hold standards, the school has a policy of capping its current enrollment (to 84, I think), to keep class sizes small, until the potential intake is large enough to justify another teacher. Fair enough.

However this has the side-effect that, in an area supposedly set aside to protect the Irish language, students are necessarily turned away from the only Irish-language school in the Village. Any comments?