Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Níl mé ullmhaithe le haghaidh gach ceist; therefore, with the Ceann Comhairle's indulgence, I will reply in both English and Irish.

Deputy Micheál Martin asked about an buiséad, an cáinaisnéis don Ghaeilge, faoi Chonradh na Gaeilge, faoi Fhoras na Gaeilge agus faoi Údarás na Gaeltachta. In the last budget which, of course, was for this year there was an increase in funding of 12% for the Gaeltacht and the Irish language more broadly, which was in line with the increases we provided across the board for the arts, culture and sport. Providing the economy allows it, I anticipate that we will continue to increase funding by about 10% to 12% a year, thus meeting the target of doubling funding for the Irish language and the Gaeltacht by 2025. Some of the money has gone to Údarás na Gaeltachta to invest in job creation, while other moneys have gone to Foras na Gaeilge for language promotion and so on.

On the support given to teachers to teach Irish, it is an area in which there is a real difficulty in recruiting teachers. There is a shortage of teachers with degrees in Irish, largely because of the number of people graduating and the number of other job opportunities in places such as the European Commission-----

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