Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)
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942. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills ⁠ if her Department commit to creating incentives for teachers to teach through the Irish language, which was in place previous to 2011; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19919/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Work is currently underway in my department to develop a new policy on Irish-medium education outside of the Gaeltacht. One of the key objectives of this policy, among other things, is examining how the supply of teachers and other staff with a high standard of Irish can be increased to meet demand in Irish-medium education settings.

The policy, together with an action plan, is currently being developed by officials of my department. In developing the policy, my department is drawing on the various reports prepared by Sealbhú, DCU, and on information shared by stakeholders in bilateral meetings and at a consultation event held in September 2024. This information is being considered in light of the existing provision for Irish-medium education and the estimated demand in the education system, questions in relation to teacher supply as well as the department’s budgetary and legislative context.

I intend to prioritise the publication of this new policy on Irish-medium education outside of the Gaeltacht in the coming months.

With regard to other incentives such as allowances for teaching through Irish, my Department of Education, along with other Departments across the public service, implemented the outcome of the public service-wide review of allowances and premium payments (September 2012) by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. This meant that many allowances were no longer payable to “new entrants” including Teachers. Among the allowances that had sanction for payment to new beneficiaries removed was the Teaching through Irish allowance.

In terms of the possible reintroduction of any allowance, under the local bargaining provision for Public Service Agreement (PSA) 2024-2026, employers and trade unions/associations may negotiate additional changes in rates of pay and/or conditions of employment. Over the course of recent collective agreements, amendments have been agreed which have seen the value of certain allowances previously withdrawn being integrated into “new entrant” teacher pay. Examples are the equivalent of an honour’s primary degree allowance and the PME allowance.

My Department is currently engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform and the relevant Unions in the Education Sector under the provisions of the local bargaining provision of the Public Service Agreement and as such it would not be appropriate to comment further while negotiations are ongoing.