John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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6. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills cad iad na beartais agus gníomhartha atá á ndéanamh ag a Roinn chun cur le líon agus raon na gcúrsaí trí mheán na Gaeilge atá ar fáil do mhic léinn sna forais ardoideachais; agus an ndéanfaidh sé ráiteas ina thaobh. [56314/25]

John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Cuirim ceist ar an Aire faoi na hiarrachtaí ar siúl ag an Roinn chun cur le líon agus raon na gcúrsaí trí mheán na Gaeilge atá ar fáil do mhic léinn sa chóras ardoideachais. Is léir nach bhfuil mórán acu ann. Níl faoi láthair ach 1,779 mac léinn i mbun staidéir i nGaeilge amháin, agus tá formhór na mac léinn sin ag déanamh staidéar ar Ghaeilge mar ábhar é féin. Is beag deis atá ag mic léinn staidéar a dhéanamh trí mheán na Gaeilge sna hinstitiúidí tríú leibhéal.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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Freagróidh mé an cheist i nGaeilge, ach ós rud é nach bhfuil mo chuid Gaeilge chomh láidir is atá Gaeilge an Teachta Connolly, freagróidh mé aon cheist bhreise i mBéarla.

Is prionsabal bunúsach inár gcóras oideachais é go bhfuil leibhéal ard neamhspleáchais ag institiúidí ardoideachais. Ní féidir leis an Rialtas a rá leo cad é atá le teagasc ná an chaoi le dul i mbun teagaisc. Ina áit sin, oibríonn an córas ar bhonn freagrúlachta do riachtanais agus éilimh i gcomhthéacs an chreata maidir le córas feidhmíochta an Údaráis um Ard-Oideachas.

Cinntíonn mo Roinn go dtuigeann an earnáil tosaíochtaí náisiúnta. Tacaíonn sí le hinstitiúidí ardoideachais a n-oibleagáidí maidir le húsáid agus cur chun cinn na Gaeilge a chomhlíonadh agus oibríonn sí i gcomhpháirtíocht chun dul i ngleic le baic ar dhul chun cinn. Chuige sin, tacaíonn mo Roinn le hinstitiúidí ardoideachais, tríd an Údarás um Ard-Oideachas, trí bhunmhaoiniú a sholáthar, mar aon le maoiniú ar leith chun tacú le tionscnaimh Ghaeilge. Mar sin féin, is gá níos mó a dhéanamh chun tacú le teagasc agus stádas na Gaeilge, go háirithe i gcomhthéacs na sprice gur cainteoirí Gaeilge a bheidh in 20% d'earcaigh nua sa tseirbhís phoiblí. The Teachta will be aware of the targets.

Ní mór don obair sin a bheith ag teacht le cuspóirí an phlean náisiúnta um sheirbhísí poiblí Gaeilge. Chuige sin, tá treoir tugtha agam do m'oifigigh dul i mbun oibre go gníomhach ar fud an Rialtais chun an obair sin a chur chun cinn. Ciallóidh sé sin, ar dtús, nach mór dul i gcomhar leis an Roinn Oideachais agus Óige chun scrúdú a dhéanamh ar aistriú scoláirí ó iarbhunscoileanna lán-Ghaeilge go dtí an tríú leibhéal.

John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Molaim iarrachtaí an Aire an cheist a fhreagairt i nGaeilge. Tá mé fíorbhuíoch dó as sin.

To put things in numerical perspective, 8% of children can attend primary school through Irish, and 3.8% of those proceed to attend secondary school in Irish. However, titeann sé sin go dtí níos lú ná 1% sna hinstitiúidí tríú leibhéal. That falls to less than 1% of students who complete their tertiary education through Irish. Ar bhealach, in a way, it is a matter of rights. D'aon pháiste nó d'aon duine óg, for any young person who comes from the Gaeltacht and who wants to continue their education through Irish, the options are very limited. We need to look at this in terms of the rights of the student.

Unfortunately, I did not get an opportunity to attend a workshop that happened in the University of Galway during the summer, but I have spoken to people who were at it. The issue was the role of minority languages in third level institutions. It was also attended by people from Scotland and Wales who spoke about their experiences. The Welsh example is one we should look at.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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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.

John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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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.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I do not disagree at all. The Deputy mentioned University of Galway and a seminar that was there over the summer. It has some work under way with the Higher Education Authority and my Department on demand for Irish courses. The HEA is engaged in using the university as the lead on it to research the demand for Irish-language courses in third level institutions to inform the planning, development and offering of such courses. There have been some initiatives such as "mo thráchtas i mbeagán focal", the three-minute thesis competition, which launched this autumn. It invites postgraduate students to present their research in three minutes, using one slide, as Gaeilge. That is promoting the use of language in postgraduate studies but we need a lot more than that. That is one welcome initiative but I agree that we need to go further.

I am committed to exploring this, taking it further and advancing it. The Welsh model is certainly one we can look at and learn from. I am happy to take that away and engage with the Deputy further on it.