Actions Instead of Words - 2

In the last article, we showed the gap between public demand for Irish-medium education and the State's response.

The Government needs a comprehensive revival plan, with clear targets that are measurable and time-bound, with proper funding, and with political consequences if those targets are not met. The current framework does not yet satisfy that test.

Legal Right to Irish-Medium Education

The State should have a legal duty to provide Irish-medium education where there is clear demand.

Currently, parents and local campaigners are forced to fight school by school, town by town, county by county. They must grapple with the Department of Education's arguments about population projections, funding constraints, and demographic formulas.

But it should be the State's responsibility in the first place, to provide the necessary resources to meet the demand for Irish-medium education across the country.

But it should be the State's responsibility in the first place, to provide the necessary resources to meet the demand for Irish-medium education across the country.

Targets

Under the National Plan for Irish Language Public Services, the State is working toward the target that 20 percent of new recruits in the public sector will be competent in Irish by December 31, 2030. The plan is designed to increase the number and quality of public services available through Irish.

As we stated in the last article, an educational target is needed as a foundation for that goal. Otherwise, where will the Irish-speaking civil servants come from?

The Government should set national targets for Irish-medium education at pre-schools, primary schools, secondary schools, and universities. Those targets should be measured, published, and submitted to the Oireachtas every year.

The Welsh Government's Cymraeg 2050 program includes targets for education through Welsh, including an interim milestone that 30 percent of children in Year 1 will be in Welsh-medium education by 2031. It also includes actions such as the Welsh Language and Education Bill, a 10-year plan to increase the number of teachers capable of teaching through Welsh, and supports for the use of Welsh between the school, the family, the community, and the workplace.

Cymraeg 2050 provides a practical template.

Priority for Teachers

No language revival succeeds without teachers being central to the process.

Ireland cannot expand Irish-medium education if schools cannot recruit qualified teachers with strong Irish. New Gaelcholáistí cannot be opened without Irish teachers. A proper system for the public service cannot be built if there are staff shortages in the education system itself.

Wales has a ten-year plan to develop enough teachers fluent in Welsh as part of Cymraeg 2050. Ireland needs a similar practical system.

That means scholarships for trainee Irish teachers. It means supporting Irish teachers to upskill. It means giving incentives to teachers in math, science, technology, and special education to teach through Irish. It means supporting teachers in Dublin and other expensive areas where housing issues make it much more difficult to recruit teachers.

The supply of teachers is the engine that will drive any language revival forward.

Continuity from Pre-school Onward

The Irish-medium process starts before primary school. It must continue through primary school, through secondary school, through third level, and into professional life.

That means more Naíonraí. More Gaelscoileanna. More Gaelcholáistí. More third-level courses through Irish. More supports for teachers, nurses, planners, Gardaí, civil servants, health workers, and social workers.

Canada's Action Plan 2023-2028 for Official Languages goes much further than education alone. It protects and promotes minority languages in the workplace and in the community, and supports the equality of the two official languages, French and English.

We should have a similarly comprehensive language plan, a plan that does not just relate to education, but that supports the use of Irish in the workplace, in public services, and in community life.

The Central Role of Local Authorities

Although the central government lays down national policies, it is at the local authority level that these policies succeed or fail.

County councils should have a duty to measure the demand for Irish-medium education in their areas. Every local authority should know where parents are seeking places for their children, where there are gaps in the education system, and where new workers will be needed to provide public services through Irish.

Responsibility in this area lies with the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, supported by agencies such as Údarás na Gaeltachta and Foras na Gaeilge. But a stronger cross-Departmental mandate from the State is also required, along with a ring-fenced budget for the language revival, and the publication of an annual report on progress toward these targets.

A duty should also be placed on every public body to show how it will support education, recruitment, and services through Irish.

Political Pressure

The Irish language movement already exists. Conradh na Gaeilge has more than 200 branches and describes itself as an all-island organization working on behalf of Irish speakers and Gaeltacht communities. An Dream Dearg has shown how a clear campaign based on language rights can bring the Irish language into the heart of the political debate.

In the North, An Dream Dearg helped turn language rights into a highly visible public campaign. It used clear demands, public mobilization, legal arguments, and political pressure. More than 12,000 people marched in Belfast in 2017 for an Irish Language Act. In 2022, more than 17,000 took part in An Lá Dearg after further delays in implementing Irish language legislation in the North.

The campaign did not get everything it was originally looking for, but it helped push real change forward. The Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Act 2022 gave formal legal recognition to Irish in the North, created the role of the Irish Language Commissioner, and put important language protections into law. After many years of delay, the first Irish Language Commissioner was appointed in 2025.

Now, the same pressure is needed here regarding a complete revival plan for Irish: a legal right to Irish-medium education anywhere there is demand, strong national targets, proper funding for teacher training, more public services through Irish, supports in the workplace and the community, and the publication of an annual report.

Every candidate should be asked what their stance is regarding the Irish language. Every political party should be asked what its strategy is regarding the funding of the language. And every government should be judged by its actions, not by its speeches.

Ultimately, our votes should depend on those answers.

We know what needs to be done. Now it is time for us all to do it.