Gaelscoil Eadan Doire opens its doors for the first time this week

It was a case of "gáire" agus "spraoi" for everyone last Monday, as Edenderry"s Gaelscoil - Gaelscoil Eadan Doire - opened its doors for the very first time to 25 excited students. 'The first day went well,' principal Póla Ní Chínnsealaigh said. 'There was a great atmosphere. We brought them all in at 9am. The toys were all out and they just got stuck in.' Nine Junior Infants, ten Senior Infants and six First Class pupils make up the first year of Gaelscoil Eadan Doire, which is staffed by Ms Ní Chínnsealaigh and Niamh Ní Chorra, with some initial help from Noírín Nic Gearailt. 'I couldn"t believe how smoothly everything went,' Ms Ní Chínnsealaigh continued. 'I couldn"t have written it any better.' And there"s even some Irish being spoken already, according to Ms Ní Chínnsealaigh. 'The amount of Irish we heard the first day was unbelievable,' she said. 'They"re very open to Irish. Even at the end of today (Wednesday) there was a lot of Irish being spoken among the children.' Gaelscoil Eadan Doire is one of four Irish-medium primary schools that opened for the first time this week. Countrywide outside of the Gaeltacht there are 171 primary schools and 44 secondary schools providing education through Irish. Gaelscoil Eadan Doire had been planned for a site at Edenderry Soccer Club, but because it wasn"t ready the school is now situated instead in Edenderry Business Park.