Classes in Irish are held outside Dáil Éireann by protesters demanding an all Irish language school for Inchicore in Dublin.
Teacher Tom Ryder takes his classroom to Kildare Street where he teaches his class through the medium of Irish. Tom, his colleagues and pupils are protesting over what they say is the government's failure to follow through on a promise made in April 1986 to build an Irish language school in Inchicore.
For 10 years, they say, they've moved from one kind of temporary accommodation to another. Now they want a school through which everything is taught through Irish.
Tom Ryder argues that 10 years is a long time to be discriminated against. He says that if the government wants a revival of the Irish language, then this is one way of doing it. Tom estimates that the cost of building the school would be around £250,000, which is an investment in the children. He also refutes any claims that teaching through the Irish language is detrimental for students studying the sciences.
Irish is our national language and we should all be able to speak it with some degree of fluency. It's part of our identity.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 10 February 1987. The reporter is Kevin O'Connor.
