25,000 people took to the streets on the 20 th of September 2025 as part of the CEARTA protest on Irish language and Gaeltacht issues. Education is a key issue of the CEARTA campaign. I’m sure that it will come as no surprise to Principals, Deputies and others reading this article that we believe that Irish is in a crisis situation in our schools at the moment. I’m sure that this is evident in your schools as you are at the cold face of dealing with this crisis every day.
Let’s look at some of the facts:
- 1 in 7 students in second level now have an exemption from learning Irish (and the update in the exemption system introduced in 2019 added a huge and, in our opinion, an unfair burden to the workload of school principals throughout the country). 60,000+ students arenbeing failed by an inflexible system that avoids problems instead of addressing them
- 30 minutes a week has been cut from the allocated time to the teaching of Irish in primary schools from first to sixth class which will, of course, reduce the standard of Irish of students entering second level in future years. It should be noted that according to research carried out by SEALBHÚ in DCU that post-primary teachers already believe that many students coming from primary school do not have enough Irish for the current junior cycle, not to mention significantly reducing the amount of time and contact students will have with language. This is despite the excellent efforts made by many primary school teachers to instil a love and ability in Irish in their students
- Only 6% of pupils are receiving their education through Irish, over 100 years since the State was founded. Although the last Government committed to work towards doubling the number of pupils in Irish-medium schools, the numbers attending Irish-medium education actually fell by 3% during their term, as no serious attempt was made to act on their own target. Despite the new policy for Irish-medium education published lately containing a ‘vision’ for ‘high quality, Irish-medium education for all,’ the policy contains no measurable or ambitious target to significantly increase the number of pupils in Irish-medium schools. This is a big difference from the situation in Wales, where the Welsh Government has a plan to increase the percentage of pupils in Welsh-medium schools from 23% to 40% by 2050, because they have an ambitious vision and the resources to achieve it. Instead of including such a target in the Policy for Irish-medium education, a task force is to be established to look at the different models that could be used.
The protestors on the 20th of September did not march in despair about these facts and other problems in the system but rather we marched with a vision and concrete proposals as to what changes are needed in the education system to reverse the huge numbers of students needing exemptions, to ensure that students are competent speakers of the language when they finish their schooling and to ensure students can choose Irish medium education in the future if that is their and their parent’s wish.
We are calling for:
1. A comprehensive Irish-language policy for Irish in the education system from early childhood education to third level to be developed based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR)
2. A plan to increase the provision of Irish medium education from 6% to 20% over a period of
20 years. In the case of the comprehensive Irish language policy based on the CEFR, this would provide a flexible system that could:
- Cater for students at their level of ability - for example, a student with a writing additional need could continue to learn oral Irish to leaving cert and be assessed on that skill and allocatedthe relevant CAO points instead of being excluded from learning Irish as happens too often in the current exemption system.
- Provide for students coming late in to the system - for example, a student could start at the lowest level of the CEFR if they enter school in fifth year and their leaving cert assessment could then be based on that level
- Align with wider Government policy - for example, the 20% recruitment target for recruits in the public sector competent in Irish and in English which is to start at the end of 2030 is to be based on the CEFR system. It only makes sense that the education system would play it’s part in ensuring that all students get an education based on the CEFR to be able to apply for these positions in the future.
The Department of Education published their 2 year action plan for Irish in English medium schools and a policy for Irish medium education outside of the Gaeltacht lately. There are initiatives to welcome in these plans as the Department allocates resources and funding to these two areas.
However, neither plan will actually address the key findings from the respective research and consultation processes organised to develop the policy and the action plan. It was clear from the respective consultations that there was a call for an ambitious measurable target to greatly increase the supply of Irish medium education to be included in the Irish medium education policy and, in the case of the action plan, it was clear from the research done by SEALBHÚ that an overall plan for the teaching of Irish based on the CEFR was one of the top priorities. We will continue to make the case to the Minister and other politicians that action is needed on both these priorities without further delay. I have to say that one of the most frustrating facts that I see again and again in the formulation of educational policy is that consultations are organised, stakeholders get to input into them but, too often than not, the main points that come to the fore are ignored or downplayed in the resulting
policies and plans.
This needs to stop.
It’s time for the Minister to Education to be ambitious and to ensure that the Department of Education acts on that ambition, starting with setting an ambitious measurable target to increase the provision of Irish medium education and by setting up an expert group to develop the comprehensive Irish-language policy for Irish in the education system based on the CEFR without further delay.
Julian de Spáinn,
Ard-Rúnaí Chonradh na Gaeilge
Julian has been General Secretary of Conradh na Gaeilge since 2005. He is Chairman of the campaign for a Gaelcholáiste in Dublin 2468. He is a Past President of the Union of Students in Ireland and a former member of the Higher Education Authority. He has four children whom he and his wife are raising through Irish in Dublin.
