Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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550. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if a draft will be published of the National Plan for Irish Provision in the EY and SAC sector; if this draft will undergo a public/stakeholder consultation before it is finalised; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27366/25]

Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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551. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if she will honour the State’s commitment to promote the Irish language by implementing a rights-based approach to Irish-medium immersion early childhood education and care; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27367/25]

Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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552. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if she will provide an official definition of Naíonra; if she will clarify if this is an Irish immersion education setting that operates through the Irish language only; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27368/25]

Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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553. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if she will explore the possibility of developing a public directory for Irish-medium preschool services, Naíonraí, in order that parents can access their local setting; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27369/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 550, 551, 552 and 553 together.

My Department is working in collaboration with other relevant Departments and agencies to develop a national plan to further the development of Irish language provision in the Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School-Age Childcare (SAC) sector.

The development of such a plan is a commitment in the 5-Year Action Plan for the Irish Language. The national plan is expected to support the delivery of two commitments in

First 5: the Whole-of-Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families: “Introduce measures to ensure that children in Gaeltacht areas have access to Irish-medium ELC provision” and “Develop mechanisms to provide Irish-language supports to ELC provision where there are high proportions of children who are learning through the medium of Irish”. The plan is also expected to support the delivery of commitments in the Programme for Government to: “Support naíonraí and creches to ensure early education access in Gaeltacht communities and beyond” and “Plan the development of State-led facilities in tandem with the school building programme, including Irish-medium naíonraí”.

A survey of Irish-medium ELC/SAC settings including childminders was undertaken in 2022-2023 to obtain a baseline of the current level of Irish-medium provision in the sector.

A public consultation and a programme of research, including a literature review, took place in 2024. A consultation with children is nearing completion.

In addition to the focus on Irish-medium ELC and SAC services, it is anticipated that the new national plan will also include measures to support English-medium ELC services to work within the updated Aistear early childhood curriculum framework, which was published in December 2024. The updated Aistear includes an aim of supporting young children to have an awareness and appreciation of Gaeilge and our cultural and linguistic heritage.

With regard to the Deputy’s query about the definition of ‘naíonra’ and a directory of Irish-medium ELC and SAC services, currently my Department uses the term “Irish-medium setting” to encompass the range of pre-school, full daycare and school-age childcare settings that use the Irish language in their interactions with children. Information on all ELC and SAC settings is available publicly on the Tusla register of early years services. My Department does not currently hold a directory of naíonraí or Irish-medium settings. My Department, through Pobal, does collect self-reported data on services’ language profile, to distinguish: wholly Irish-medium settings; mixed settings where part of the setting is English-medium and part of the setting is Irish-medium; English-medium settings with some use of Irish; and wholly English-medium settings.

Possible actions such as defining ‘naíonra’, mentoring of naíonraí services and the publication of a public directory of Irish-medium ELC and SAC services, will be considered during the process of developing the Plan.

It is intended that the Plan will be published later in 2025.