Minister McEntee Launches New Policy for Irish-Medium Education and Action Plan for Irish in English-Medium Schools
- Published on: 6 November 2025
- Last updated on: 6 November 2025
Minister for Education and Youth, Helen McEntee TD, has today launched two major developments aimed at strengthening Irish language education across the country: the Policy for Irish-Medium Education outside of the Gaeltacht and the Action Plan for Irish in English-Medium schools. Together, these represent a significant milestone in the teaching, learning, and use of Irish in both Irish-medium and English-medium schools.
The new Policy for Irish-Medium Education outside of the Gaeltacht sets out the Department of Education and Youth’s vision for Irish-medium education, including that “high-quality Irish-medium education will be available to all, in inclusive and multicultural educational settings”. Supports will be provided under the policy, including language support hours for Irish, development of resources and the provision of guidance and teacher professional learning opportunities.
A central action under the policy is the establishment of a Taskforce on Models of Provision for Irish-Medium Education, which will bring together stakeholders and department officials to co-design a pathway to grow the sector with the aim of expanding opportunities for children and young people to receive their education through Irish. The taskforce will hold its first meeting later this month.
Speaking at the launch event on the shared campus of Gaelscoil Bhrian Bóroimhe and Swords Educate Together National School, Minister McEntee said:
“Under this policy, we will ensure that an ecosystem of appropriate supports and resources is available to schools and their communities. This will include the provision of language support hours for Irish to schools on a phased basis, which will help schools to support pupils' diverse language needs, and provision of support and guidance by An Chomhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta & Gaelscolaíochta (COGG) and Oide. We will also work to ensure children and young people have more opportunities to experience Irish as a living language outside of the classroom.
“Collaboration has been key to developing this policy and will be vital to its successful implementation. I want to thank all those who contributed to the consultation process, especially our children and young people whose voices were central to shaping this policy.”
In tandem, Minister McEntee also published the Action Plan for Irish in English-Medium Schools, which will be implemented from 2025 to 2027 across English-Medium primary and post-primary schools. This plan aims to enhance the teaching, learning and use of Irish for over 900,000 students in English-medium schools.
The plan is built on four key pillars:
- Fostering positive attitudes towards Irish
- Increasing the use of Irish
- Supporting access by all children and young people to learning Irish
- Integrating supports for Irish.
Supports will be provided under the Action Plan which will include professional learning opportunities for teachers, the development of resources, and greater opportunities for children and young people to use Irish. A key focus will be on supporting teachers to share effective practice and to have better access to and use of resources.
Minister McEntee said:
“Irish is a living, shared part of our national identity. This Action Plan sets out a practical path to build confidence and enthusiasm around the use of Irish in English-medium schools. Our goal is for Irish to be experienced as a living language, not just a school subject.
“This Action Plan reflects the many views that we heard during an extensive consultation nationally and with schools. It very much reflects the views of children and young people. We want every student in every classroom to feel that Irish belongs to them, and to have a positive and rewarding experience of learning it—one that leads to real success and enjoyment.”
Both the policy and the action plan reflect the Government’s commitment to supporting Irish language education in all settings, ensuring that students across Ireland can engage meaningfully with the language and culture.
Notes to Editors
Notes on the Policy for Irish-Medium Education outside of the Gaeltacht
Delivery of a number of key actions under this policy has already commenced, including:
- The establishment of the Taskforce on Models of Provision for Irish-Medium Education
- Provision of language support hours for Irish to Irish-medium schools outside of the Gaeltacht on a phased basis, commencing with Gaelscoileanna with DEIS status and Gaelcholáistí for the 2025/26 school year
- Provision of funding to Gaeloideachas to develop an innovative resource to help parents support their children’s learning and acquiring Irish
- The launch of the Foraois pilot project in conjunction with Dublin City Council to create a network around a cluster of Irish-medium schools and provide opportunities for young people to use Irish outside of school
- The expansion of the e-Hub project to schools outside of the Gaeltacht from the 2025/26 schoolyear. Under this project, additional subjects (currently Physics and Chemistry) are made available to students through the medium of Irish through blended learning.
- Provision of supports for the Conair Lán-Ghaeilge (Irish-Medum Pathway) on the PME (primary) programme in Marino Institute of Education, which began in September 2025
- Provision of additional staff to COGG and Oide to support schools.
To access the Policy for Irish-Medium Education outside of the Gaeltacht, visit: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-education/publications/policy-for-irish-medium-education-outside-of-the-gaeltacht/
Notes on the Action Plan for Irish in English-medium schools.
- The Action Plan for Irish in English-medium Schools applies to all primary and post-primary schools that teach through English.
- It will be implemented for the school years 2025-2026, 2026-2027.
- It will support schools and teachers to effectively implement existing curriculums for Irish. In particular, it will support the development of students’ oral language skills in Irish.
- The action plan focuses on the elements that make a difference to language learning- attitudes, teaching Irish as a language, opportunities to use Irish, and the use of inclusive approaches that allow all children and young people to experience success in their learning.
- It is informed by national consultation, research, and policy and practice for minority languages in other jurisdictions.
Consultation
- An extensive national consultation informed the development of the action plan. The consultation involved almost 700 participants, including 200 national stakeholders and over 500 people at school-level (children, young people, teachers, school leaders and parents). Over half of participants in the consultation at school level were children and young people.
- Two comprehensive consultation reports, prepared by SEALBHÚ, Dublin City University, have been published alongside the action plan.
Supports
Additional supports have been provided for Irish in English-medium schools to support the implementation of this action plan. These include:
- a new team in COGG to develop an innovative, user-friendly resource that will support teachers to develop students’ oral language skills.
- additional staffing in Oide to support the teaching of Irish in English-medium schools
- commencement of the development of a resource by Gaeloideachas to support parents.
It is also intended to increase participation of schools in successful schemes such as Gaelbhratach and the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) initiative and to explore the potential for increasing participation of young people in youth services through Irish.
Implementation
The Department of Education and Youth will coordinate implementation with key education partners.
- Schools will receive guidance and support in aligning current practices with the plan’s priorities.
- Monitoring and review will be built in across the two-year timeframe.
For more information and to access the Action Plan and the consultation reports, visit: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-education/publications/action-plan-for-irish-in-english-medium-schools/
