Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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478. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students who were granted an exemption from the study of Irish at primary level over the past five years, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [61005/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I can advise the Deputy that statistics on exemptions from the study of Irish are available on the department's website:

PRIMARY: Total Number exemptions granted and in place at primary level

• The number of exemptions held at primary level is extremely low and has fallen from over 18,000 in the 2017/18 school year to just over 12,000 in the 2024/25 school year. In relative terms, the proportion of primary school students with an exemption from the study of Irish in the same period has dropped from 3.25% to 2.2%.
• At primary level, over 93% of exemptions are granted to students with Special Educational Needs.
• While the number of exemptions held at post-primary level have increased, the number of new exemptions granted have largely held steady since the new circulars were introduced. This is despite an increase of almost 4.7% in the overall enrolment number in post-primary schools since 2022.
• At post-primary level, exemptions granted are evenly distributed between students with Special Educational Needs and students coming from abroad.
• A significant number of students from abroad came into the education system in recent years, including over 17,000 Ukrainian students (over 10,000 at primary level and over 7,000 at post-primary).
• The number of children with more complex special educational needs is increasing significantly and this is evidenced by the almost 1,700 new special classes that have been provided in mainstream schools over the last five years and special school enrolments are increasing by 300 each year.
• There are almost 28,000 students with special educational needs enrolled in special classes and special schools in the 2024/2025 school year. This equates to almost 3% of our overall primary and post-primary student population.

• A new policy on Irish-medium education outside of the Gaeltacht has just been published.
• An action plan for Irish in English-medium schools has just been published.
• Supports and resources provided through COGG including very successful upskilling Irish language classes for teachers; a guidance toolkit which promotes careers and third level education opportunities with Irish; development of Irish resources to support learners with special educational needs; and the development of An Tairseach, a portal to provide access to resources for Gaeltacht and Irish-medium schools and resources to support PE through Gaeilge for which over 1,000 primary schools have registered to access to date.
• Teacher education and training, including empowering teachers to use differentiated approaches in teaching the Irish language, in order to support children and young people with a diversity of needs.
• Funding to Foras na Gaeilge to progress a number of initiatives including the Gaelbhratach programme, further development of Seideán Sí and the development of an Irish/Irish Dictionary.
• Ongoing work on the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) project in conjunction with the department’s support service OIDE and COGG. 290 primary schools are receiving sustained CLIL support in 2025/26 including 164 new schools.
• Ongoing teacher professional learning provided by Oide, the department’s professional learning support service.