FOLLOWING THE REVELATION that the largest number of secondary school students ever received exemptions from studying Irish in the last school year, a spokesperson for the Department of Education and Youth has defended the system saying that exemptions are only granted in exceptional cases but that the situation needs to be viewed in a “broader context”.

In last night’s edition of Iniúchadh TG4/TG4 Investigates, it was revealed that 60,946 post-primary students – or 14.3% of the total – had received exemptions from studying Irish for the 2024/25 school year.

This is an increase of over 5,000 on the number of exemptions granted for 2023/24 and is almost double the number of exemptions granted seven years ago.

In a response from the Department of Education and Youth to this story, a spokesperson said that in specific extenuating circumstances, exemptions are given to students that allow them not to study the language.

“The number of exemptions from the study of Irish needs to be seen in a wider context,” said a Department spokesperson.

“The number of enrolments at post-primary education level has increased from 362,899 in 2018/19 to 425,411 in 2024/25, an increase of 17%.

“Over 18,000 students from Ukraine have enrolled, 11,267 at primary level and 6,946 in the post-primary education system.

“The number of children with complex special educational needs is increasing and this is evidenced by the fact that almost 1700 new special classes are being provided in the education system and that special school enrolments are increasing by 300 each year.”

The statement from the Department of Education and Youth said that almost 28,000 students with special educational needs were in special classes or special schools in the 2024/25 school year.

“This represents almost 3% of the total population of students attending primary and post-primary schools across the country,” said a Department spokesperson.

Rónán Ó hIcí, Irish Second-level Students Union

One of the leaders of the Irish Second Level Students’ Union, Rónán Ó hIcí, the organisation’s Oifigeach na Gaeilge (Irish Language Officer), believes that the Department of Education is letting down the number of students who receive exemptions because they have no strategic plan to improve the situation.

“The way the Irish language is currently treated in the education system is a failure, and the exemptions are the result of this failure,” he told The Journal.

“Our demand is for a comprehensive policy for Irish from early childhood education to third level, based on the Common European Framework of Reference, a curriculum that shows that Irish is for everyone – whether you are an immigrant, a child with special needs, or a native speaker.”

According to Ó hIcí, the system should be more flexible than it is and that students should have the option of learning the language through the Teastas Eorpach na Gaeilge system which is part of the Common European Framework of Reference. This would give them the opportunity to learn Irish as a language of communication and, in addition, would also give them a qualification that is recognised throughout Europe.

In the response from the Department of Education and Youth, it was also stated that work was underway in the Department on developing a new policy on Irish-medium education and that this would be published, subject to the Minister’s assent, this Autumn.

“An action plan for Irish in English-medium schools is currently being finalised and it is hoped that it will be published, subject to the Minister’s assent, this Autumn, and that it would be implemented between now and September 2027.

Other measures mentioned include additional support for Irish-medium education and Irish as a subject that is being prepared or developed by the Department. These include support for the Gaeltacht and Irish-medium Education Council to provide classes to improve Irish language skills and a toolkit to provide guidance for careers and higher education options with Irish.

Another initiative mentioned by the Department’s spokesperson was funding for Foras na Gaeilge to advance the Gaelbhratach project, a project that encourages schools to implement schemes to use more Irish. There are other policies to enhance teacher training in teaching Irish to students with different needs.

The Journal’s Gaeltacht initiative is supported by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme