Written answers

Tuesday, 1 December 2020

Department of Education and Skills

Gaelscoil Issues

Photo of Peadar TóibínPeadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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53. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her plans to increase the number of Gaelscoileanna to meet the demand around the country. [40076/20]

Photo of Norma FoleyNorma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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As part of the 20 Year Strategy for the Irish Language 2010-2030, my Department has committed to creating opportunities for expanding Irish-medium education outside the Gaeltacht in the context of the April 2018 announcement on the establishment of 42 new schools from 2019 to 2022, which will afford particular consideration to the establishment of Gaelscoileanna, Gaelcholáistí, and Aonaid Lán-Ghaeilge as part of the new patronage process. Since the April 2018 announcement the number of new schools to be established over the period 2019 to 2022 to meet a demographic demand has increased to 47 schools.

Following the announcements since April 2018, my Department has developed a new Online Patronage Process System (OPPS), which provides objective information and allows parents to express their preferences in relation to the patronage and language of instruction, i.e. Irish or English, of these new schools (with the exception of those schools which have been designated as Irish-medium gaelscoileanna in advance of the OPPS opening for parents). Parental preferences, as well as other considerations such as the extent of diversity of provision in an area (including Irish-medium provision), are key to the decision-making process.

In addition, in September 2019, the Government announced measures to increase access to Irish-medium education as part of the patronage process, including that five new primary schools being established from 2020-2022 are being designated for Irish-medium education. This step is part of a framework which includes:

- Designating the language of a new primary school as Irish in some circumstances;

- Testing (on a pilot basis) the potential to cater for demand for English and Irish medium provision through, for example, delivering two 8-classroom primary schools (one English-medium and one Irish-medium) in a shared building/campus rather than delivering one 16-classroom primary school, subject to factors such as demand and site conditions;

- Exploring the potential to expand existing Irish-medium primary schools to meet unmet demand in an area;

- Providing opportunities for patrons of existing primary schools to change the language of instruction from English to Irish, such as is envisaged as part of the Schools Reconfiguration for Diversity process.

Details of schools that provide education through the medium of Irish are available on my Department's website www.education.ie.

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