Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)

I mentioned a strategy that was currently being developed. The plan is to finalise that in the coming weeks. It builds on extensive consultation that took place at national and school stakeholder levels between January and May of this year. We met almost 200 participants at a national level and over 500 participants at school level. The consultation showed that, exactly as the Deputy pointed out, children and young people wanted to be able to speak Irish. They wanted to be able to speak it outside of school as well.

It is important that we have a multifaceted and flexible approach to giving students different opportunities for immersive experiences. The only way to learn a language is to be immersed in it and listening to it, speaking it and hearing it. That is not what happens in our schools, except for Gaeltacht schools, Gaelcholáistí and Gaelscoileanna. The action plan is looking at how we can create that for young people.

Separately, the review of the leaving certificate is happening at the moment. While the specifications for Irish have not been finalised, that work is under way. We have to look at the changes that took place at junior cycle level. We have to learn from those, identify what has worked and what has not worked, and make sure any changes to our leaving certificate senior cycle curriculum encourage, support and make Irish enjoyable for our learners. That is what I have asked the objective to be.

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