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(Foireann Gaeltachta The Journal a chuir an scéal seo ar fáil. Tá leagan as Gaeilge anseo.)
THE IRISH LANGUAGE community may have been waiting for a policy for Irish-medium education and the teaching of Irish for years but suddenly, hey presto, two policies are being published simultaneously.
The Minister for Education and Youth, Helen McEntee, launched the Policy for Irish-medium Education outside the Gaeltacht and the Action Plan for Irish in English-medium Schools at a separate event for representatives of Irish-medium education organisations held on the shared campus of Gaelscoil Bhrian Bóroimhe and Scoil Náisiúnta Sord Educate Together in north Dublin this morning.
The main aim of the policy for Irish-medium education outside the Gaeltacht is to ensure that “high-quality Irish-medium education is available to all, in inclusive and multicultural educational settings”.
This policy also includes a commitment to provide “language support hours for Irish, resource development, and professional guidance and learning opportunities for teachers” to support the realisation of this aim,
In the action plan for Irish in English-medium schools and the cornerstones of that policy are “to foster positive attitudes towards Irish, to increase the use of the language, to support access for all children and young people to learning Irish and to integrate supports for Irish”.
One of the key activities in the announcement made this morning was the announcement of a task force on models of provision for Irish-medium education.
Launching the documents, Minister McEntee thanked those who participated in the consultation process, “especially our children and young people whose voices were central to shaping this policy”.
“Collaboration has been essential to the development of this policy and will be essential to its successful implementation.”
Gaeloideachas, the umbrella organisation for Irish-medium and Irish-medium secondary schools in the country, welcomed the documents’ supports and targets but also expressed concern about their lack of ambition.
”This is the first ever policy for Irish-medium education outside the Gaeltacht,” said Bláthnaid Ni Ghreacháin, Director General of Gaeloideachas, on her way to the launch.
”We are at a crucial time for the Irish language and Irish-medium education – we must have and maintain hope.”
Clíona Ní MaolChiaráin, President of Gaeloideachas, speaking on Nuacht a Hàon on RTÉ RnaG today, said that the policy for Irish-medium education outside the Gaeltacht was a “missed opportunity”.
”We see on the one hand that this was published with an ambitious vision but on the other hand the concrete work or the concrete data does not match it.”
An Fóras Pátrúnachta, an organisation that has responsibility for many Irish-medium schools and Irish-medium secondary schools because they act as patrons, was largely in line with other Irish language bodies in its response.
According to An Foras, the new policy was a “missed opportunity” as it did not remove “an obstacle to the establishment of Irish-medium schools”.
Professor Pádraig Ó Duibhir, the organisation’s chairman, criticised the decision to set up the task force as, in his view, the question the task force would be examining had already been answered.
It appears that everything is being done other than taking a decision to increase Irish-medium provision.
“The Minister has shown no leadership or vision in terms of the goals in the policy,” said Ó Duibhir.
“The new task force is working in a vacuum without a goal.
“Look at Wales as an example of what the Minister could have announced today. They are committed to a target of 40% of pupils being educated through the medium of British by 2050. Why is the Minister not setting a target?”
23% of schoolchildren in Wales are educated through the medium of Welsh and, in Ireland, 6% of students receive their education through Irish.
Conradh na Gaeilge’s Ard Rúnaí/General Secretary, Julian De Spáinn, said that the organisation welcomed the promises and support contained in the two documents for Irish-medium education and Irish-medium education but expressed concern about the lack of ambition as long as there was no measurable target for the number of students being taught through the medium of Irish.
“We think the major issues were particularly overlooked in relation to the two-year action plan for English-medium schools – there is no major target to tackle the exemptions or the curriculum.
“A lot can be done to improve students’ attitudes towards Irish but if they are doing a flawed curriculum, that will not help the situation.”
Earlier this year it was revealed that over 60,000 secondary school students had been granted exemptions from Irish exams during 2024 and according to information revealed this week, over 73,000 secondary and primary school students are receiving exemptions from Irish.
The Journal’s Gaeltacht initiative is supported by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
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