Ms Jean O'Mahony:

It has been in existence for a number of years. In addition to that €900,000 allocation for universities and smaller colleges, there is also the €1.76 million additional ring-fenced budget for Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge in the University of Galway. That obviously provides Irish languages courses trí mheán na Gaeilge but it also provides broader support to the system with respect to research and other supports with respect to the language.

The third pillar of the approach of the Department and the HEA to supporting the language is to foster the language on campus, which is the thinking behind the support for the gníomhaí Gaeilge, the student mentoring award system co-ordinated by Conradh na Gaeilge. Funding for that is going to be €220,000 over the next three years. There is also the €16,000 for the North-South activities. Recognising the independence of the institutions, both academically and administratively, which I mentioned in my opening statement, these are the three broad approaches of the Department to supporting the language at third level.

To the Deputy's second question as to whether the Department has a target for increasing the number of students studying the language, I absolutely understand and very much appreciate the policy rationale for considering or setting a target but I will make a couple of observations about that. I acknowledge that, relative to the student population as a whole, the number of students studying exclusively trí mheán na Gaeilge or through a mix of Irish and English is low. I will say a couple of things about that, however. As I have mentioned, the third level institutions themselves are independent. That is a really core principle of the system. The State does not tend to take the approach of setting binding targets for the courses the universities should be putting on. I am talking about binding targets now rather than any voluntary target. The second point I would make is that, by and large, the third level system does respond relatively well to student demand. We can see that in that there are not that many areas where there are very profound skills deficits in the labour market. By and large, the system does respond well to student demand set against the context of the labour market.

There are a couple of things that augur well for student demand with respect to the language. One is the number of students studying at primary and post-primary level through the medium of Irish, which the Deputy referred to. There is also the Government's objective of 20% of recruits into the public sector being Irish speakers by 2030. They are both things that augur very well for demand. With respect to that, if the State were to set an objective or target, albeit a voluntary one, for the number of students studying Irish at third level, it would be prudent to assess the demand and to gather some research, evidence and data on the level of demand for Irish language courses from students studying through the medium of Irish. The HEA is engaged with Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge to look at the potential for such research.