The climax of the new Bob Dylan biopic, ‘A Complete Unknown’, centres on folk music’s hero ‘going electric’ at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival on Rhode Island. Dylan is challenging convention. It’s his way versus what has always been, or so it appears. It’s old versus new. To some it’s right versus wrong, either/or. To those with ears it was both/and.
Some months back, online news website The Journal quoted the General Secretary of Conradh na Gaeilge, Julian de Spáinn, as stating: “The teaching of the Irish language in the education system is at ‘crisis point’ and must be overhauled ‘urgently’ in order to encourage more students to study the subject in school.”
Last year, 22.5 percent (13,695) of the 60,839 who sat the Leaving Cert did not sit an Irish exam. The percentage was up from 20.4 percent the previous year. Irish is mandatory at second level, yet exemptions may be sought.
“According to the Department of Education, exemptions are granted on the grounds of a student having been educated outside of Ireland for a certain period of time, having significant literacy difficulty or having other additional needs. The decision........

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