Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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108. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of counties that have stand-alone lán-Ghaeilge secondary schools; the counties that have none; the counties that have an ‘aonad’ lán-Ghaeilge for second level education; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31133/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Go raibh maith agat, a Theachta, as an gceist seo a ardú.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Programme for Government commits to expand opportunities for students to attend gaelscoileanna and gaelcholáistí.

My department promotes and supports various models of immersive Irish-medium education at post-primary level. As well as supporting gaelcholáistí, my department also supports ‘aonaid’ specialised Irish-medium units attached to an existing English-medium school, ‘satellite schools’ a satellite of an established gaelcholáiste in an area where there is not sufficient parental demand for a stand-alone gaelcholáiste, and ‘sruthanna’, a ‘stream’ of classes taught through the medium of Irish within an English-medium post-primary school.

There are 50 gaelcholáistí in operation across 15 counties throughout the country. These 50 gaelcholáistí are supplemented by, eleven aonaid, one satellite school and six sruthanna. In total, 20 counties have students enrolled in post-primary Irish-medium settings. Further detail on the statistical information requested by the Deputy will be supplied to him in tabular form broken down by county.

Work is ongoing within my department on the development of a new policy for Irish-medium education outside of the Gaeltacht. This policy will sit within the overall framework of the 20-year Strategy for the Irish language and will build on the achievements of the Policy on Gaeltacht Education. Among the objectives for the new policy are exploring how opportunities for the establishment of Gaelscoileanna and Gaelcholáistí can be increased as part of the patronage process.

At an overall level, this will involve examining how we can create more opportunities for children and young people to receive their education through the medium of Irish, including in counties where there is not current provision. Engagement and collaboration with the Irish-medium education sector will be key to progressing this. Under this policy, we will work with key stakeholders to examine opportunities and support more children to receive their education “as Gaeilge”.

Táim ag súil le bheith ag comhoibriú leis na páirtithe leasmhara chun an t-oideachas lán-Ghaeilge a chur chun cinn, agus chun an polasaí nua don oideachas lán-Ghaeilge a chur i bhfeidhm.