Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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434. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the cost of increasing extra support for those learning Irish as an additional language. [37752/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Education and Youth uses an allocation model to decide how to distribute special education teachers across mainstream schools. Every school in the country receives an allocation of additional special education teaching hours per week based on the level of need.

The key principle that underpins the special education teacher model is that the child with the greatest level of need should receive the greatest level of support. The board of management and principal oversee how resources, including human resources, and special education teaching hours, are being used to meet this objective. Special education teaching hours may be allocated to provide additional support for students learning Irish as an additional language if this is deemed to be the greatest level of need of the children in question.

Irish language support hours, provided for under the Gaeltacht School Recognition Scheme, can also be used for this purpose if deemed suitable. It is also worth noting that there is a commitment in the current Programme for Government (2025) to ‘consider ways to enhance supports to Gaelscoileanna and Gaelcholáistí, particularly in Gaeltacht areas, which have a high proportion of students whose first language is neither Irish nor English’.

Work is currently underway in my department to develop a new policy on Irish-medium education outside of the Gaeltacht and an action plan for Irish in English-medium schools.

In order to inform these developments, comprehensive public consultation processes have been conducted to gather the views of stakeholders, including young people, parents and guardians, education professionals, education stakeholders and Irish-language organisations. Sealbhú, a research centre in DCU, has carried out an analysis of the information gathered throughout both consultations.

In developing the policy and the plan, the priorities which have been identified by stakeholders during the consultation processes are being considered, including calls for additional support for those learning Irish as an additional language. These priorities are being examined in light of existing provision, as well as questions in relation to teacher supply and the department’s budgetary and legislative context.

I expect to receive a draft of the policy on Irish-medium education outside of the Gaeltacht and the action plan for Irish in English-medium schools in the coming months for my review. If I am satisfied with the draft received, it is intended that the policy and plan will be published in autumn 2025.