James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

Yes. The Welsh example is interesting. I attended the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly on Monday outside London in Surrey, and engaged with members of the Welsh Parliament and we discussed apprenticeships as Gaeilge and apprenticeships in the Welsh language. It was one of the topics we engaged on. The Deputy is right that the Welsh have made a success of it. Ach tuigim an fhadhb sa tír sin and I am aware of the issues the Deputy raises.

One of the points he made is the percentage of students in Irish universities being less than 1%, perhaps. That figure has been suggested. It is hard to verify a figure. My officials tell me that determining the number of students studying Irish at third level can be challenging because Irish is offered as an optional component on many programmes. It is therefore not necessarily a full programme through the Irish medium; it could be Irish as a component of another programme or elective module. There could be many students who are líofa participating in courses but just not pursuing them through Irish.

I agree, however, that we need to do more and I absolutely agree to do that. We need to work towards the targets. As the Teachta has rightly said, the number of students coming through the coláistí, the Gaelscoileanna, the naíonraí, etc., needs to be reflected at third level.

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