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Stock image.<\/p>\n
Calls have been made to introduce mandatory teaching of the national anthem in primary schools as concerns grow that it is \u201cslipping away\u201d from Irish society. <\/p>\n
The proposal, brought forward by Sinn F\u00e9in councillor Fionnan Blake at the April meeting of Meath County Council, calls on the local authority to write to the Minister for Education urging that all primary school children be taught the words and meaning of Amhr\u00e1n na bhFiann as part of the curriculum.<\/p>\n
The national anthem, Amhr\u00e1n na bhFiann (The Soldier\u2019s Song), was written by Peadar Kearney either late in 1909 or early in 1910.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Blake said he believed knowledge of the national anthem had declined in recent years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel it is something that has been quietly slipping away from our society over the last number of years. We are losing our Irishness a bit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said the anthem had previously been more prominent in everyday life, including at the end of television broadcasts and social events, and was more widely taught in schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith so many different nationalities and cultures living in Ireland now, I think it\u2019s important for them to learn our history and our struggle and this is translated in our National Anthem,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Cllr Blake described the anthem as \u201ca powerful song\u201d reflecting Ireland\u2019s history and identity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt defines our country and the words and meaning need to be taught and understood by children at a young age. It needs to be enhanced in Irish society,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The motion was passed and will now be referred to the Department of Education for consideration.<\/p>\n
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stock image. Calls have been made to introduce mandatory teaching of the national anthem in primary schools as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43,29994],"class_list":["post-408330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-sylvia-omorodion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}