European Commission Against Racism & Intolerance: Fourth Report on Ireland

ECRI notes that approximately 10% of primary school children and 12% of postprimary school children in Ireland come from a migrant background. Of those children for whom English is not their first language, 70-75% may require extra English language assistance. As a response to this fact the Government had funded Integrate Ireland Language and Training (IILT) to provide intensive English language courses for adult immigrants and refugees and to assist schools with language teaching material. ECRI regrets to note however that in July 2008, the Government withdrew funding from the IILT centres  and the responsibility for provision of English language programmes for refugees transferred to the Vocational Education Committee. This was criticised by students, NGOs and teachers’ unions as a severe setback. Due to economic circumstances another programme, “English as an Additional Language”, has been cut down since 2008. According to Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX),Ireland is not very well prepared to help new immigrants enter the school system...
ECRI strongly encourages the Irish authorities to continue and intensify their efforts to ensure that no children suffer disadvantage in the school system due to inequalities in their linguistic skills in English, and recommends that they draw inspiration in this regard from its General Policy Recommendation No. 10. 100.
ECRI strongly recommends that the Irish authorities step up the provision of training programmes to teachers and other school staff, in accordance with its General Policy Recommendation No. 10, in order to enhance their understanding of a variety of cultures and equip them to work effectively in increasingly diverse classrooms, including strengthening their capacity to teach English as a second language to children with a different mother tongue...Read more