Campaigners are calling on Department of Education to “show it is serious” about Irish-language education by purchasing a former Christian Brothers monastery to ensure the future of the State’s newest Gaelcholáiste.Gaelcholáiste Synge in Dublin 8 will open in September, enrolling its first cohort of students into a building on the same campus as CBS Synge Street, which will enrol its final cohort of first-years. As the latter winds down and the Gaelcholáiste grows, by 2032 the school will be “lán Gaeilge”, said the Edmund Rice Schools Trust (ERST), which runs both schools. The ERST is the lay body which acts as trustee of former Christian Brothers schools. It anticipates Gaelcholáiste Synge will have a final student body of between 300 and 400 pupils. Parents, teachers and public representatives involved in the Gaelcholáiste 2468 campaign to open an Irish-medium secondary school for the Dublin 2, 4, 6 and 8 areas, however, believe this “lacks ambition”. The numbers refer to the central Dublin postcodes south of the Liffey, which have several primary-level Gaelscoileanna but no secondary option. The campaigners fear a capacity of less than 700 will not be sufficient to meet “a growing demand for Irish-medium secondary education” in the south Dublin city area. Pupils from five Gaelscoileanna in Dublin 2, 4, 6 and 8 outside Leinster House calling on the Minister for Education and Youth Hildegarde Naughton to deliver on a promised Gaelcholáiste. Photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish Times