Campaigns

Unfortunately, Irish-medium primary and post-primary education is not available as an option for all children because there aren’t enough schools to accommodate them.

To deliver on its promise to support Irish-medium education, the State needs to ensure that a naíonra, gaelscoil and gaelcholáiste is available within a reasonable travel distance for all children. There needs to be planned development, including the establishment of new naíonraí and schools, and provision for special education must be included.

Research has shown that up to 23% of Ireland’s parents would choose an Irish-medium primary school for their child if there was one available in their area, yet only around 8% of the country’s primary school pupils are being educated through Irish and there has been no significant increase in this figure in the last ten years.

Not every Irish-medium primary school has a local or even a regional Irish-medium post-primary school, and there are 13 counties that do not have any Irish-medium post-primary schools.

Gaeloideachas is campaigning together with An Foras Pátrúnachta, Conradh na Gaeilge and community groups around the country to get new schools for their children. More information on this campaign is available on www.gaelscoil4all.ie.

There is a shortage of teachers in Irish-medium and Gaeltacht schools.

Gaeloideachas recommends bringing back the allowance for teaching through Irish and ensuring that teachers receive all the support they need to provide inclusive education through the medium of Irish for all children.

The allowance was initially awarded in recognition of the additional workload associated with teaching in an Irish-medium school compared with a English-medium school.

Examples of the additional workload include:

• Producing contemporary content for use in the classroom either by adapting English-language content, or by translating it – done on the teacher’s personal time – so that lessons can remain relevant to current events
• Making up for the shortfall in textbooks and support materials at post-primary level when compared to those available to English-medium schools
• Compulsory standard examinations for Irish (in 2^nd, 4^th and 6^th class), where there is no such requirement in English-medium schools, and opting to undertake these examinations annually as good practice in order to assess standards and identify challenges
• Duplication of work involved in correspondence and communication with parents bilingually
• Working to maintain language proficiency skills at a high level
• Providing learning support in both languages, according to the child’s needs
• Promoting Irish as the language of socialisation and the language of the school community, and organising language-promotion events and trips to the Gaeltacht
• Additional work to strike the appropriate balance between teaching specific content and placing necessary emphasis on language acquisition
• Creating assessment tools in Irish to assess different abilities, especially to provide appropriate support for students with specific support needs – these tools are not being provided in Irish as standard by State agencies

Click below to read Gaeloideachas’ submission to the Department of Education in January 2023, as part of the consultation on the development of a State policy for Irish-medium education outside the Gaeltacht. This submission draws on our 50 years of expertise in the Irish-medium education sector, and also includes the views f our members and winder community, with whom we consulted. The submission is in Irish only, but if you require further information or context in English you can contact us at eolas@gaeloideachas.ie and we’ll be happy to help.

Aighneacht Gaeloideachas ag freagairt don chomhairliúchán ar Fhorbairt Pholasaí don Oideachas Lán-Ghaeilge don Roinn Oideachais Eanáir 2023