Son - very bad experience in Gaeltacht

silverharp

Smondie wrote: »

2. Your son don didn't like the food and broke the rules by whispering to his sister, then is complaining he was refused food. Do you expect every student who doesn't like the food to get individual meals cooked for them? He was punished for breaking the rules, should be be excepted from following the rules? One set if rules for him and one set for everyone else?

We are not dealing with pets here and short of parents agreeing to this in the T&C's denying an evening meal to a kid is bullying and if this happened in a children's home HIQA would be all over it like a rash

Tiddlypeeps

Smondie wrote: »

Your son don didn't like the food and broke the rules by whispering to his sister, then is complaining he was refused food. Do you expect every student who doesn't like the food to get individual meals cooked for them? He was punished for breaking the rules, should be be excepted from following the rules? One set if rules for him and one set for everyone else?

You seem to be portraying some sort of scenario where I child stubbornly won't touch a plate of food in front of them despite the staffs best efforts. This is not the scenario the OP described so why you would jump to it in defence of the school is troubling. Removing the child from their food because they broke the rules is denying them that food, one that could maybe be overlooked (that's a big maybe) if they didn't then go and deny the child an evening meal later that very same day. Denying a child two meals and leaving them go hungry for most of the day is not acceptable on any level.

2RockMountain

Do you know the parents of the child who was assaulted and abused? If so, you should probably inform them and let them decide about involving the police on that issue.

Samaris

Turtle_ wrote: »

...whereas others have boarding colleges as well as / instead of houses.

I think everyone knows that it may have been interpreted as speaking English, and maybe it was - but the point is that a kid was punished by being refused food. What sadistic arse "cracks down" on a 12 year old by denying them food?

It actually doesn't matter what the adults involved thought, they had no right to refuse him food. None, zero, zilch. Nothing you've said mitigates anything that happened and, whilst I'm sure you didn't intend it to, reads a bit like excuse making. I've been to the Gaeltacht myself and I wager so have quite a few respondents here, so people do know what the score is at them but thankfully I don't see anyone else fobbing off draconian illegal treatment of children as just a misunderstanding.

O.o Crikey, I think I have been rather misunderstood here!

I thought I had clarified that I did not agree with what happened and was sympathetic; the purpose of my post was answering some questions that had come up in the conversation beforehand. The way the poster phrased it, it seemed they were living in a house; someone questioned was this even a thing, I confirmed from my own experience that it can be. I did not say (or intend to imply), that it was the case with all of them, merely that it is in some, i.e. around where I am at least.

Er...yeah, I think I'll step out of this one now, that all felt a bit unnecessary, and I don't want to derail things further.

Best of luck, OP.

byhookorbycrook

I will begin by saying that I worked in Irish colleges as a ceannaire and teacher for many, many years. Students invariably complain about the food. I did it myself as a student. We wanted chips and sausages pretty much every day and used to be annoyed to be given (relatively) healthy food instead.

I would also not be bothered about the principal "not smiling" hardly a sacking offence.

What I would be very concerned about is the issue of the bullying and how this was/wasn't addressed. I'd also be quite concerned if a child was denied the food being served.

I would document everything your son has told you and talk to the college in the first instance.

deandean

12 years of age is too young to be sending your kid to the gaeltacht in my experience. They get homesick. Then everything becomes a problem.

byhookorbycrook

deandean wrote: »

12 years of age is too young to be sending your kid to the gaeltacht in my experience. They get homesick. Then everything becomes a problem.

I went from the age of 10.

Hannaho

Hi! Thanks to you all for the replies. For those who think it's far fetched - well I was stunned when I first heard it, but it most certainly did happen. The older girls who went with my daughter to the Geaelteacht, who were with her this time, and previously, were all aware that it happened, though they didn't witness it - it was the talking point during their time there, and still is. I think we all forget that places we thought were always safe for our children, for instance, the Gaeltacht, or certain sporting activities, swimming, GAA etc, or previously institutions of the Church, were safe for our children may not always be so. Children are the most vulnerable, easy to bully etc. My son told me what the other boys did to that poor boy - my children said that the boy who was made to drink his own pee was unusually small for his age - maybe easy for these bullies to pick on. In relation to drinking his own pee - I think the guys, the two who bullied him, made a game of trying to pee into beakers, then made him drink it. In relation to the food - my son was terrified of the principal, and wouldn't stand up for himself re the food though I absolutely encouraged him to do so - he described the principal at the Gaeltacht as like 'a witch who never smiled.' If his bossy older sister hadn't rung me and told me what had happened re the food, I would never have know, but I knew something was wrong as she would never normally be so worried about him. My son was staying in the Colaiste, and because my daughter had been there previously - five times - she loves Irish - she was staying with a Bean an Ti. My son was 12 going - I sent my daughter at that age, but on hindsight, I don't think I'd recommend sending children until they're a year or two older.

Hannaho

Sorry, meant to say, I have reported all of what happened to Tulsa.

Queen-Mise

Sounds like gaeltacht hasn't changed much in 30 years. Good gods I absolutely hated it, and the bullying was horrific.

As others said, even get your kids to tell you and you record it. You can write it out later.

Send in an official complaint about it to whoever is in charge. If they are still there, create a ruckus. Withholding food is utterly unacceptable.

Wanderer78

Ireland really does still have a lot to learn about educating kids, best of luck op

lazygal

Well done OP. We won't be sending ours to a Gaeltacht (they're still very young but I can't see our mind changing), apart from our own feelings on the Irish language I've heard too many horror stories about how these places treat children to be happy with them. There seems to be a grey area in terms of monitoring what goes on and the insistence on communication through Irish further muddies the water when issues arise. I hope something comes of this.

Turtle_

lazygal wrote: »

I've heard too many horror stories about how these places treat children to be happy with them.

Children? You mean the income? That's all they really are to a lot of them. Get as many fees as possible... Do as little for it as possible.


That said, some of them are fantastic and the one my cousin went to looked like great fun, it seemed to be actually concerned with providing a fun environment with lots of things to do, hopefully it and similar will survive and dominate because I do think it's a good idea for kids to get some independence.

Sapphire

Hannaho wrote: »

Sorry, meant to say, I have reported all of what happened to Tulsa.

I'd love to hope that Tusla act on this but I wont hold my breath. I've the utmost of respect for them and the job they do but I imagine that if they go in and poke around in it that they'll be urged to drop it quietly to protect the reputation of the gaeltacht and the revenue stream these camps generate.

Actually, are the hosts Garda Vetted and checked and all that? I imagine that the staff in the Colaistes are, but the families that host them? Have they been trained in acceptable levels of discipline and there seems to be a bit of a lack of supervision.

byhookorbycrook

Sapphire wrote: »

I'd love to hope that Tusla act on this but I wont hold my breath. I've the utmost of respect for them and the job they do but I imagine that if they go in and poke around in it that they'll be urged to drop it quietly to protect the reputation of the gaeltacht and the revenue stream these camps generate.

Actually, are the hosts Garda Vetted and checked and all that? I imagine that the staff in the Colaistes are, but the families that host them? Have they been trained in acceptable levels of discipline and there seems to be a bit of a lack of supervision.

Tusla cannot cover up or just "drop cases"
Yes hosts are vetted
Re supervision, it's down right impossible to supervise 12-18 year olds 24/7 , just as in schools the level is that of what a "prudent parent" would provide.

I'd hate for people to think that what the OP says has happened is representative of Gaeltacht experience.It would seem that the child in this case was in a boarding school type placement, rather than a house. I had years of great fun in Irish college, made friends that I still have today.

silverharp

it looks like the boarding element was the problem if its badly managed. Most Gaeltachts you stay in a family house so there would be better supervision and no punishments and you wouldnt be stuck with any aholes that happened to be in the college. Personally I wouldnt send my kids to a college that would send them home for speaking English, I thought that kind of nonsense had been done away with