Marginalised Amongst the Marginalised: An Overview of Schooling in the Gaeltacht Up to the Mid-1960s

Abstract

The previous two chapters detail the developments in relation to schooling in the Gaeltacht from the advent of national independence in 1922, until the middle of the 1960s. These developments are now analysed. To this end, the first section of the chapter considers the provision of schooling in the Gaeltacht in comparison with the provision of schooling nationally. Discussion then turns to a major effort in 1935, to relocate Gaeltacht families to rich farming land outside of the Gaeltacht, and to developments in relation to the education of their children. The chapter closes with an overview of the developments that took place aimed at reviving Irish beyond the Gaeltacht over the period, and particularly in relation to the State harnessing the education system to that end.