Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is a significant commitment from the Department to progressing and supporting the growth of the Irish language. We have deemed it necessary to take a staged approach to this objective. We began with the policy on Gaeltacht education, on which significant progress has been made, including the development of the BEd and MEd, support for international research and supports for schools in obtaining their Gaeltacht recognition certificates. There has been a phenomenal uptake by schools of all of that.

The second stage has been the development of a new unit within the Department of Education that is dedicated to the development of Irish in English-medium schools. The fact we have developed a unit specifically dedicated to that purpose shows our commitment in this regard.

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