The announcement that 200 extra language teachers are to be appointed immediately to cope with the number of immigrant children in primary schools prompted a political row yesterday, with the Government and Fine Gael accusing each other of jumping on the bandwagon.
The Department of Education announced the plan to appoint new language teachers on the same day as Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny unveiled a six-point plan to help schools deal with the challenges posed by immigration.
Minister of State for Education Seán Haughey welcomed Mr Kenny's decision to join the effort to deal with the issue of language support for immigrant children.
"However, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that he's tried to make it just another political football to be exploited in the run-up to the election," said Mr Haughey.
"If the Fine Gael leader was being honest, he would have acknowledged what is already being done and the fact that this is an area where everyone has little experience.
"Of the six points he makes, they are either under way or already being considered for implementation," he added.
Government chief whip Tom Kitt said Mr Kenny was demanding things he knew were about to happen anyway. "Underlying this cynical approach is his failure to provide real detail or costings on his demands," said Mr Kitt.
A Fine Gael spokesman said that while it was good the Government was taking up the issue, it was more than a coincidence that the announcement of extra teachers came on the same day that Mr Kenny announced his six-point plan.
"The Government has zero credibility on educational reform. The commitment they made in 2002 to reduce class sizes has been dropped completely. Language skills and training has become a huge issue but the Government has utterly failed to meet the challenge," said the spokesman.
"Does anyone seriously believe it was a coincidence that the Government announced the extra teachers on the day they knew Enda Kenny planned to make a policy statement on the issue?" the spokesman asked.
Mr Haughey said in the current school year, 879 language teachers had been allocated to primary schools to cater for newcomer pupils who require additional support in English.
"This compares with a figure of 562 last year and 149 in 2001/02. At post-primary level the figure has increased to 371 this year compared with 262 in the last school year and 113 in 2001/02. The total number of language support teachers now stands at 1,250," he said.
"In addition to the full-time posts approved, grants towards the cost of employing part-time teachers are paid to schools with between three and 13 eligible non-national pupils.
"In the 2005/06 school year, 409 schools sought grant aid under this provision," the Minister added.
