John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

We should look at that Welsh model. It is a state framework for the promotion of courses through the Welsh language across their third level institutions. It has doubled since 2011 the number of students completing their third level education through Welsh. It offers additional grants to the institutions to offer courses through Welsh and scholarships to students. Those people from Conradh na Gaeilge who attended the Irish language committee recently spoke about the real impact it is having on the Welsh language and the young people's spirit in trying to make sure they go on to live their lives through use of the Welsh language as their first and primary language.

I stress that we are reducing the option for people for whom Irish is their daily language to study at third level.

I would like us to look at this in a broader context than just those who wish to study Irish. We should be looking at people who want to study medicine, engineering, commerce or whatever. We should be offering them the opportunity to complete that through Irish.

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