{"id":950,"date":"2021-04-06T16:01:41","date_gmt":"2021-04-06T16:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oileain.net\/?p=950"},"modified":"2021-06-26T15:53:26","modified_gmt":"2021-06-26T15:53:26","slug":"towards-a-strategy-statement-i-dtreo-raiteas-straiteise-2021-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/oileain.net\/index.php\/2021\/04\/06\/towards-a-strategy-statement-i-dtreo-raiteas-straiteise-2021-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Towards a Strategy Statement\/I dTreo R\u00e1iteas Strait\u00e9ise 2021 \u2013 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Roinn Oideachais agus Scileanna<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Invitation for External Submissions, November 2020<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Comhdh\u00e1il Oile\u00e1in na h\u00c9ireann (CO\u00c9)<\/strong> is the representative body for the inhabited offshore islands of Ireland. The organisation\u2019s aim is the social, economic and cultural development of island communities through representation at local, national and EU levels. CO\u00c9 is a founder member of ESIN, the European Small Islands Federation, currently hosting their secretariat.\u00a0 CO\u00c9 works with Government to develop Island-proofed policies and is currently involved in the Department of Rural and Community Development consultation on offshore Islands.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Comhdh\u00e1il Oile\u00e1in na h\u00c9ireann submission<\/strong><\/p>\n

CO\u00c9 welcomes the Department of Education and Skills (DES) external consultation, enabling CO\u00c9 to communicate proposals with regards to the development of the DES Strategy Statement for the period 2021-2023.<\/p>\n

COE\u2019s submission is based on the Programme for Government \u2013 Our Future Together, <\/strong>published during June 2020. CO\u00c9\u2019s submission draws from and cites the Programme for Government as a key source, given that this has already been adopted as agreed Government policy.<\/p>\n

\u2018Primary and Post-Primary education\u2019<\/h2>\n

\u201cEducation is a cornerstone of society and a driver of social equality. Creating new and viable opportunities for young people and those wishing to re-skill is a civic, social, economic and environmental imperative now more than ever.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

CO\u00c9 recognises that the above is a powerful and progressive statement, that places education at the heart of the Government\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

CO\u00c9 welcomes the continous and specific recognition of the importance of small schools in the programme for Government (pg. 110).\u00a0 The future and sustainability of small communities is heavily reliant on the availability of appropriate education infrastructure.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Small offshore island communities are even more heavily reliant on the suitable education resources (There are five post-primary schools on islands that rely on the local island community progressing from very vulnerable island primary schools, of which only 12 island primary schools remain).\u00a0 Primary and post-primary schools are currently and will continue to be at the heart of island communities.\u00a0 The Programme for Government recognises this fact and CO\u00c9 (who support all 5 post-primary shools and 12 primary schools on islands) hopes to see further supports implemented to ensure the sustainability of island schools, and by extension, island communities.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

CO\u00c9 welcomes Government\u2019s commitment to provide additional resources for students whose first language is not English (pg. 111), and welcomes recognition by DES that not all students have English as their first language.\u00a0 CO\u00c9 hopes that Gaeltacht students and families using Gaeilge, Ireland\u2019s first official language will also be included within DES measures and support for such students.<\/p>\n

Under Sustainable Rural Mobility proposals (pg. 30), CO\u00c9 hopes that the required investment will occur to ensure social cohesion between island communities and the mainland, particularly with regard to island education.<\/p>\n

CO\u00c9 welcomes Government\u2019s strong commitment to strengthen and enlarge Irish-medium education<\/strong> (pg. 112), with particular reference to Government\u2019s intention to double Irish-medium immersion education,both within and outside Gaeltacht areas.\u00a0 The establishment of the Schools\u2019 Excellence Fund for Irish-medium sector will be a significant step suporting Irish-medium education, and will assist recognition, status and language profile of such schools.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

CO\u00c9 suggests that Ireland could learn much from the Government proposal to \u2018Forge alliances with other Member States with which we share common goals and interests\u2019<\/em> (pg. 125), and member states off-shore island communities and also connection with countries beyond EU allow Ireland\u00a0 \u2018Deepen Ireland\u2019s relationships with Small Island Developing States, some of which face existential threats from climate change\u2019 <\/em>(pg. 128).\u00a0 It would be beneficial if a common understanding at official levels (government, EU etc) could be reached across member states regarding Island Communities\u2019 challenges to facilitate a common approach to addressing same, re various facets of island life eg Education, Transport, Langusge, Climate, and if this could be supported within a multi-annual approach.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Regarding Balanced Regional Growth aim in Programme for Government (pg. 67), particularly within the aim and context \u2018Ensure that policy and planning across Government in relation to the future provision of services and infrastructure will be fully aligned with the National Planning Framework to ensure balanced and sustainable development in Ireland over the next 20 years.\u2019, <\/em>CO\u00c9 strongly suggests that an across Government cohesive integrated approach is adopted to addressing Islands\u2019 challenges, and also similar existential challenges faced by rural communities throughout Ireland, which threaten their future viability eg Infrastructure and education supports, transport, broadband.\u00a0 Government\u2019s commitment in the Islands section of the Programme for Government is welcomed and supported by CO\u00c9, to \u2018……publish the Islands\u2019 Action Plan this year, so that action can be taken on improving connectivity, transport links, education, job creation and fully exploiting the potential for tourism on our islands.\u2019\u00a0 <\/em>CO\u00c9 respectfully suggests that DES arranges for education to be included among the 11 themes and areas of island life being consulted upon within the process as despite being omitted as a consultation theme, education was the issue consistently raised as first or second concern by islands communities.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The commitment to Irish language (pg. 103), \u2018This Government acknowledges the importance of the Irish language as the first language of the State, as a living language, and as vital component of the heritage of this island.\u2019<\/em>, CO\u00c9, identifies a central role for Education and ETBs in delivering this policy objective, to assist Government and DES\u00a0 \u2018……. to increase not only the visibility of our native language, but also its daily use in the community.\u2019<\/em> agus i dtreo na sprice \u2018……. the protection and preservation of Gaeltacht areas to ensure they remain at the heart of a living language.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

CO\u00c9 would welcome the oppportunity to expand on these proposals when the draft Strategy Statement takes shape, and will be available to further engage with DES during November and December in assisting to deliver on the ambitious programme.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Roinn Oideachais agus Scileanna Invitation for External Submissions, November 2020 Comhdh\u00e1il Oile\u00e1in na h\u00c9ireann (CO\u00c9) is the representative body for the inhabited offshore islands of Ireland. The organisation\u2019s aim is the social, economic and cultural development of island communities through representation at local, national and EU levels. CO\u00c9 is a founder member of ESIN, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,39,40],"tags":[42,43],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/oileain.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/950"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/oileain.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/oileain.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/oileain.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/oileain.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=950"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/oileain.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":951,"href":"http:\/\/oileain.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/950\/revisions\/951"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/oileain.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/oileain.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/oileain.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/oileain.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}