Breandán wrote:
Be wary also of the pronunciation of younger school-age kids, though, Faber, as it is considered "cool" by some kids in the Gaeltacht to modify their pronunciation away from the traditional pronunciation of their parents and make themselves sound more like the non-native school learners, a kind of peer-group pressure towards the non-native norm in schools.
I'm not saying that that is necessarily the case with your young friend, and I'd love to hear the recording one day, but there are all sorts of hidden pitfalls with "native" speakers of various ages. (At the other extreme, many old recordings of monoglot speakers were of people who had few teeth left in their mouths, and if you mimicked them, you'd sound like you had a "native" lisp.
)
a native lisp!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v5hw2Ie44M Ach mar adubhairt sé fhéinig nín sé aige'n sgoil fós!
I don't think the main problem, in the majority of cases, is school children adopting non-native pronunciation from their peers. I think its more to do with parents, with native pronunciation and Irish, not passing on the language to their children at home. Therefore, the childrens' only source of Irish pronunciation is in school; where more than likely their teachers are from outside the Gaeltacht regions and who themselves may not have mastered correct pronunciation.
The vast majority of Gaeltacht regions have their own primary and pre-primary schools and a lot have their own secondary (high-) schools. Therefore, most of the children attending the schools are from the Gaeltacht region; any galltacht child (I hate using the term) would be in the minority and it makes no sense for the majority to adopt the pronunciation of the minority, especially in the case of children. In fact, it would be more likely that the Galltacht minority would adopt the regional, native pronunciation in these situations. But like I said, language transmission has been severed in many cases in the Gaeltacht and the language of the home is now English and their only source of Irish, is that of "school Irish", with teachers who have poor pronunciation skills.
However, I can see how the problem of children modifying their pronunciation due to their peers occurring in regions where there is no primary and/ or secondary school and therefore Gaeltacht children receive their education outside of the Gaeltacht; where they become the minority. Therefore their native pronunciation and Irish may be viewed as odd and incorrect (as that's the psyche and mentality that the standard creates). They may even be mocked for speaking bog or farmer Irish! It wouldn't take long for them to switch then.
The lack of Gaeltacht secondary schools used to be more of a problem in the past when there wasn't many. Although, with the current cut-backs schools are under pressure to remain open and I think one has already closed in the Donegal Gaeltact not so long ago.
Cian
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Is Fearr súil romhainn ná ḋá ṡúil inár ndiaiḋ
(Amhlaoibh Ó Súilleabháin)
Please wait for corrections/ more input from other forum members before acting on advice
I'm familiar with Munster Irish/ Gaolainn na Mumhan (GM) and the Official Standard/an Caighdeán Oifigiúil (CO)
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I hope you visit us regularly now that you have found us. Forty years of teaching experience should make for some interesting contributions to the forum. The members of ILF range from people with no Irish whatsoever to learners of all standards and includes fluent and native speakers. The diversity is what makes the forum interesting and also fuels some of the more heated discussions. 
Fáilte!