Holly Cairns
Question:231. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Education if she will outline her plans to grow the number of children accessing secondary school education through Irish. [44053/23]
View answerTuesday, 10 October 2023
Questions (231)
Written answers
The Policy on Gaeltacht Education, which is being implemented by my Department, has contributed to strengthening Irish-medium education provision in Gaeltacht language-planning areas around the country.
Under the policy, 29 Gaeltacht post-primary schools (as well as 103 primary schools) are participating in the Gaeltacht School Recognition Scheme and receive targeted supports to strengthen and enhance the delivery of Irish-medium education.
Students in Gaeltacht post-primary schools also have the opportunity to participate in the e-Hub Project, which allows them to study Leaving Certificate Physics or Chemistry through the medium of Irish via remote learning, thereby extending the range of subjects available in these schools.
By developing and strengthening the delivery of Irish-medium education in our Gaeltacht post-primary schools, the numbers enrolled in these schools will increase over time.
In addition to the work on the Policy on Gaeltacht Education, work on the development of a new policy for Irish-medium education outside of the Gaeltacht is in progress in my Department. The key objectives of the policy are in accordance with the 20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language 2010-2030 and the Programme for Government, and include increasing the proportion of children and young people attending Irish-medium schools.
An extensive public consultation process has been conducted to gather the views of stakeholders, including young people, parents, education professionals, education stakeholders and Irish-language organisations.
The new policy will also be informed by current research, which includes:
- A report giving an overview of provision for Irish-medium education outside of Gaeltacht areas was compiled and published by my Department.
- Research on Irish-medium Aonaid and Sruthanna (Units and Streams) in English-medium schools is being carried out on behalf of my Department.
- Two composite reports on inspection findings on the quality of educational provision in Gaelscoileanna and Gaelcholáistí, covering the period 2017 to 2020, were published in spring 2021. These reports provide a helpful insight into relevant themes related to practice in schools.
I look forward to progressing this important work of strengthening Irish-medium education provision both within and outside of the Gaeltacht.