Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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594. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the steps the Government is taking to address the drop in the number of Naíonraí in the country, from 173 to just 53, in the past four years. [29930/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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My Department is working closely with the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and the Department of Education to implement a comprehensive set of actions that were agreed as part of the 5 Year Action Plan for the Irish Language 2018-2022. These actions are designed to affirm the importance that early learning and care (ELC) and school-age childcare (SAC) settings have in encouraging the development and revitalisation of the Irish language. The aim of these actions is to build on the existing measures, supports and partnerships in place in the area of Irish-medium early learning and childcare, and to further improve these supports and services.

Funding provided by my Department for ELC and SAC services is the same for both Irish-medium and English-medium services, whether inside or outside Gaeltacht areas. My colleague, the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, provides additional supports for Irish-medium ELC services in the Gaeltacht through her Department and its agencies. In addition, in June of this year, the Minister of State for the Gaeltacht announced five-year funding to provide a comprehensive support and development service to naíonraí outside of the Gaeltacht, to be administered by Gaeloideachas.

Inter-Departmental coordination in relation to supports for Irish-medium provision of ELC and SAC, both inside and outside the Gaeltacht, takes place through the National Early Years Oversight Group (established as part of the 5-Year Irish Language Action Plan), which is chaired and coordinated by officials in my Department.

In line with the commitments in the 5-Year Action Plan, the development of a Comprehensive Plan to further the development of Irish language provision in the ELC and SAC sector has commenced. A survey of Irish-medium ELC and SAC settings including childminders was conducted in 2023 to obtain a baseline of the current level of Irish-medium provision in the sector. The survey report, published in October 2023, will complement other research and consultation processes, currently on-going, as well as the work of an Advisory Group which was established to support the drafting of the Comprehensive Plan. It is intended that the Plan will be published later in 2024.