National Plan for Irish Language Public Services

The National Plan for Irish Language Public Services 2024-2030 is an ambitious and strategic 6-year plan.

It is the first ever Plan of its kind in the history of the State and a central element in the move towards a fully bilingual public service under the Official Languages Acts 2003 and 2021.

This National Plan, which is based on five specific strategic themes, is intended to act as a roadmap for public bodies in terms of systematically increasing and improving the number and quality of Irish language public services that they provide. It will also provide a pathway to increasing the number of staff competent in Irish to facilitate the provision of these services, towards the Act’s 20% recruitment target i.e. that 20% of recruits to the public sector will be competent in Irish by 31 December 2030.

This National Plan will be supported by two accompanying Action Plans – the first of which will cover the period 2026-2028 (further information on this below).

Work is also underway in relation to the dates that are to be set in relation to Gaeltacht services and offices under Section 18E. More on this will follow in due course.

Overall responsibility for the preparation of this Plan fell on the Irish Language Services Advisory Committee, established under the Act, with a range of organisations from across the public sector represented at a senior level on it.

Major Strategic Theme 1 - Broad Initiatives & Structural Strengthening

Major Strategic Theme 2 - Provision of Public Services through Irish

Major Strategic Theme 3 - Technology

Major Strategic Theme 4 - Training, Recruitment & Language Competence

Major Strategic Theme 5 - Data Collection

This Action Plan is the first of two to be published in support of the National Plan for Irish Language Public Services 2024-2030. It sets out the specific actions to be taken over the period 2026-2028 and looks to take a holistic, measurable and practical approach to the implementation of the National Plan under its five strategic themes. Preparation of this Action Plan involved extensive consultation and engagement across Government and beyond – particularly as it relates to core public services and Gaeltacht areas.

• Recent Highlights around the Plan, the Committee and the Act in general
• General information about the Official Languages Acts
• Copies of Legislation
• Technical Working Group under the National Plan for Irish Language Public Services