Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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102. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when the policy on Irish-medium education outside of Gaeltacht areas will be published; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29347/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Work is ongoing in my Department at present to develop a new policy for Irish-medium education outside of the Gaeltacht. This new policy will build on the significant achievements of the Policy on Gaeltacht Education.

In order to inform the development of the policy, a comprehensive public consultation process was conducted to seek the views of stakeholders including young people, parents, education professionals, education stakeholders and Irish language organisations.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the significant response we had to the consultation. I am particularly pleased that so many pupils and students participated in this process, by completing the online questionnaire and by participating in the focus groups. It is crucial that the voices of children and young people are included in the development of policies that affect them, and I would like to thank the pupils and students, and the teachers who facilitated that engagement.

The Sealbhú research centre in DCU analysed the information gathered during the consultation and prepared a series of reports to inform policy development. These reports provide an overview of the views, opinions and suggestions shared with my Department during the various periods of public consultation.

Sealbhú was also commissioned to carry out a review of international literature to inform the policy. Their research review focuses on teaching through minority languages in jurisdictions with contexts similar to that of Irish in Ireland.

The reports prepared by Sealbhú were published by my Department in May 2024. In developing the new policy, the Department will draw on these reports, as well as the information shared by stakeholders in bilateral meetings. This information will be considered in light of the existing provision for Irish-medium education and future projections of demand for the education system, as well as the Department’s budgetary and legislative context.

It is intended that the stakeholders will have an opportunity to share their views with officials of my Department on the direction of the policy before it is completed, and that implementation of actions under the policy will commence during the 2024/25 school year.