Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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40. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if he will provide a specific progress report on the 20% recruitment target for Irish-competent staff in public bodies as outlined in the Action Plan for Irish Language Public Services 2026-2028; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16843/26]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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As the first senior minister in recent times with responsibility for the Irish language and the Gaeltacht, it was a great honour for me to publish in January the first Action Plan for Irish Language Public Services, for the period 2026-2028.

This Action Plan seeks to adopt a holistic, measurable and practical approach to the implementation of the National Plan for Irish Language Public Services 2024-2030 – in particular the ambitious recruitment target as referred to by the Deputy. It builds on the clear interest shown through the research for the National Plan among staff of public bodies to improve their Irish-language competency, as well as their positive attitude towards the language in general. This research also demonstrated that there were many Irish speakers in the system already who perhaps were not recorded as so yet.

In this context, as a key mechanism for public bodies to ensure that they have a sufficient number of staff with Irish-language competency to provide high quality bilingual services, this Action Plan proposes a number of measures relating to the 20% recruitment target – with a full chapter dedicated to the subject. Highlights for 2026 include:

• proactive recruitment of individuals with Irish-language competency and reporting by public bodies in regard to same;
• proactive support for those wishing to improve their Irish language skills, through training courses, and networking and coaching opportunities;
• various awareness raising measures including 'Fís' - a new conference for young people organised through Conradh na Gaeilge - the first of which took place in the National Convention Centre on 12 March during Seachtain na Gaeilge. Over 5,000 young people from across the country attended this landmark event, the largest ever youth event held through Irish. The conference brought together post-primary and third-level students, young professionals, creators, businesses and Irish language organisations to highlight and showcase our bilingual future in education, careers and community;
• the launch of a national awareness campaign later this year;
• the development of apprenticeship, internship and other programmes;
• increasing the language capacity of the IPA, publicjobs and the HSE; and
• establishing with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, a sectoral working group for tertiary education.