2026-05-12

154. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science for an update on the progress in providing third level courses through the medium of Irish across the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34976/26]

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta McGettigan. Aithníonn mo Roinn an ról tábhachtach atá ag earnáil an oideachais threasaigh maidir le cur chun cinn agus cothabháil na Gaeilge. Tá réimse cúrsaí ar fáil do mhic léinn trí mheán na Gaeilge ar fud na hearnála treasaí. Is iad na hinstitiúidí féin a dhéanann na cinntí sin i gcomhréir lena neamhspleáchas acadúil. Léiríonn anailís a rinne an tÚdarás um Ard-Oideachas le déanaí gur chláraigh 420 mac léinn i gcúrsaí a sholáthraíodh go hiomlán trí mheán na Gaeilge sa bhliain acadúil 2023-24 agus 265 mac léinn eile ag déanamh staidéar i gcúrsaí a sholáthraíodh go páirteach trí mheán na Gaeilge. Den chuid is mó, is i réimse an oideachais iad sin. We need to make further progress on what we have done. I recently visited an t-acadamh in Ollscoil na Gaillimhe Déardaoin seo caite. We spoke to a number of the students and educators there about their plans and their ambition to deliver education in the medium of Irish. It is important also that we recognise the difference between cúrsaí sa Ghaeilge and cúrsaí through Gaeilge. Are we teaching Irish or are we teaching other courses through the medium of Irish? Sometimes that distinction is not always picked up on but it is important. We have a very strong ambition, working with the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Dara Calleary, to reach the goal of 20% of public servants working through the medium of Gaeilge and having it at their disposal. It is something that I am very much committed to and am very much working on. This is why I visited with an Teachta John Connolly and an Comhairleoir Keane at the acadamh in Galway last week. I am very committed to this. We will be publishing a national plan for Irish-language public services. This will include research into existing and future demands for Irish-medium tertiary education and then look at how we will roll that out up to 2027.

The Minister will have to excuse me. Táim ag foghlaim Gaeilge anois. Níor thuig mé gach rud a dúirt an tAire. I welcome any progress made on this issue. My son went through bunscoil and Gaelcholáiste and when he went on to college, there were certain words and phrases he struggled to understand, particularly in science. The Government has set a target that 20% of new recruits to the public service will be able to converse with the public and provide services through Irish by 2020, but currently less than 1% of third level courses are being provided in Irish, despite over 50,000 students attending Gaelscoileanna. Would the Minister agree that this is a bit slow?

Níor cheart go mbeadh imní ar an Teachta faoina cuid Gaeilge, táimse ag foghlaim chomh maith. Maith thú as an bhfoghlaim. We will learn together. It is commendable when anyone attempts it. To meet the target, the goal is to have a workforce capable of speaking at least partly as Gaelige, but ideally 20% would have a strong ability and competency. A wide range of courses is available already. Some are fully in Irish, some are partly through Irish and there can be combinations. Course provision is determined by the institutions, because they are academically autonomous. It is not just within na hollscoileanna. I visited an education and training board, ETB, recently that was providing Irish-language education in night classes. We also support clubs and societies in a number of different activities on campuses, outside of the formal learning experience. I am very supportive of that, as is the Minister of State, Deputy Harkin.

In a recent submission to the committee on further and higher education, Conradh na Gaeilge called for at least 5% of third level courses to be available through the medium of Irish. Does the Department have any plans to have this? The Irish language is enjoying a cultural revolution, particularly through the music scene. An awful lot of young people now want to take up the language, to learn the language and to continue in their life with the language.

I know Conradh na Gaeilge well. I will be meeting its representatives in the near future to discuss their submissions and requests. I am very supportive and I hope we can do as much as we can for them. I mentioned some of the actions we are taking. There are a couple of specific actions we are taking to meet the target. We are working with the Department of Education and Youth to examine the transition of students from Irish-language post-primary education because we know there is a huge growth in the bunscoileanna and Gaelscoileanna. The question is how they move on to tertiary education, because we do not want their Irish to fall away when they move to third level education. We are working with the Department of Social Protection on the sectoral working group I mentioned already to see how that can contribute to the targets. We are undertaking research to understand the demand and availability of both the courses and of students wishing to take them up. We are also examining the inclusion of Irish-medium courses in future expressions of interest. We are running a number of expressions of interest with the HEA at the moment for new course provision in areas like disability, therapies, medicine, veterinary, etc. We will see if we can include Irish as one of those in the future and if there is an option to provide those courses, we will.