Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

156. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills what her approach is to ensure that all school resources, textbooks, instructions for teachers, equipment and computer programmes and so on, are available in both official languages simultaneously; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17752/26]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

My department is committed to providing the best quality services possible in both official languages to its customers. The department has a Language Scheme as required by Section 15 of the Official Languages Act 2003 which sets out, among other things, the department’s commitment to providing communication, publications and circulars to teachers and schools in both Irish and English. My department’s Customer Charter reasserts its commitment to providing service through both Irish and English. Staff are kept aware of their obligations under the Official Languages Act through reminders, information sessions and quarterly meetings of the Official Languages Act Network, which each unit sends a nominated representative to.

My department is committed to ensuring that all new interactive IT systems have a bilingual functionality/capability to the extent that schools may use either official language when making returns to the department. Schools already have the option of accessing ESINET, the department’s online data input system, in either Irish or English when submitting data, including returns regarding the deployment of teaching resources, to the department. Any new interactive systems and online platforms will be introduced simultaneously in both Irish and English. The Inspectorate of the department carries out evaluation and advisory work in a range of education settings. The Inspectorate provides a bilingual evaluation and advisory service to Gaeltacht and Irish-medium schools.

Oide, which launched on 1 September 2023, promotes the quality of teachers and learning through the provision of a more efficient, effective and responsive model of professional learning and support for teachers and school leaders. Oide facilitates optimum teaching and learning and enables students to achieve their potential and contribute to Ireland’s social, economic and cultural development.

As part of the new organisational structure of Oide, a new Division called GaelAonad has been created with specific responsibility for the curricular area of Irish and school contexts operating through the medium of Irish. The provision of the GaelAonad division ensures that Oide’s focus as an organisation on the development of the language and support for school contexts operating through the medium of Irish becomes more visible and explicit both internally and externally.

The GaelAonad Division is a cross-sectoral division in Oide and has responsibility for all elements of professional learning for school leaders and teachers in, and through the medium of, Irish. The Division also supports and advises the other divisions of Oide ensuring the provision of high quality professional learning as Gaeilge. The GaelAonad Division supports provision for the professional learning needs of schools, school leaders and teachers of all subjects including Gaeilge in the Irish-medium sector at primary and post-primary level and teachers of the Gaeilge Curriculum in English-medium schools at post-primary level as well as teaching and learning Irish in all school contexts.

In 2025/26 the approved staffing of the GaelAonad Division increased significantly from 18 secondees at the end of 2024/25 academic year to 39 secondees in September 2025. This included provision for a new team tasked with supporting the implementation of the new Action Plan for Irish in English-Medium Schools. Since the publication of the plan in November 2025, the new team are working specifically to develop supports and provide professional learning to school leaders and teachers. This includes support with fostering positive attitudes towards Irish, increasing the use of Irish and supporting access by all children and young people to learning Irish in English-medium schools.

The current policy within my department is not to endorse or promote any particular programme, product or publication to support teaching, learning and assessment. There are a small number of exceptions where the department has procured textbooks or resources in order to fill a need. There is no obligation for a school to use any particular textbook, resource or programme in their delivery of the curriculum. The only requirement from the department, on any teaching and learning resource used in a school, is that it is relevant to the curriculum. Apart from a small number of prescribed texts at post-primary level, determined by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), the decisions on which textbooks, programmes and products to use in primary and post-primary schools are taken at school level.

In that context, my department has limited input into the provision of school resources, textbooks, equipment and computer programmes in general.

As set out in the Education Act 1998, the planning and coordination of the provision of Irish language teaching resources for all schools (including textbooks where appropriate) to support the teaching of subjects across the curriculum in Irish-medium schools is one of the areas of responsibility of An Chomhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta (COGG). In the past few years, my department has provided additional resources to COGG to enable them to accelerate their work on the development of teaching and learning resources for the Irish medium and Gaeltacht Education sectors and have developed ‘An Tairseach’ (), an online portal dedicated to providing one-stop access to resources that support teaching, learning and assessment through the medium of Irish. There are currently in excess of 3,000 resources available on An Tairseach, catering for both primary and post-primary levels. Teachers are producing teaching and learning resources for An Tairseach which are quality assured before publication.

Under the Policy for Irish-Medium Education outside of the Gaeltacht, which my department published in November 2025, we have committed to providing additional resources to COGG to enable them to accelerate their work in relation to the provision of Irish language textbooks and resources, including digital resources. Additional supports provided under the new Action Plan for Irish in English Medium Schools include the development by COGG of a new single online resource hub for Irish in English-medium schools and a resource to support the development of listening and oral skills among students in English-medium primary and post-primary schools.

My department will provide funding of just over €4m to COGG in 2026 and of this, approximately €1.1m is allocated to the provision of teaching, learning and assessment resources including textbooks. As with all public funding, COGG are careful to prioritise and support the production of textbooks and other resources which support most students in order to ensure value for the investment. COGG maintain a careful balance between the translation of textbooks or resources written in English and the production of new textbooks and resources tailor made to meet the needs of students learning through the medium of Irish.

Since 2018, COGG has developed a total of 35 textbooks, 26 of which are for Junior Cycle and 9 for Senior Cycle. Nine new post-primary textbooks have been produced for the current school year. Textbooks have been developed for almost all subjects for Junior Cycle to date, and remaining gaps will be addressed over time. COGG are also planning towards the development of suitable textbooks and resources for the new and revised subjects at Senior Cycle.

COGG will continue to provide textbooks and teaching and learning resources in Irish over the coming years. The redevelopment of Senior Cycle provides an appropriate, natural timeline for this development work. In addition to the ongoing production of new textbooks, it is planned that new editions of many of the current textbooks will be developed, particularly at Junior Cycle level, to adequately cater for the learning needs of students in Irish-medium and Gaeltacht schools.