10th November 2025
The INTO demands that the Department Education and Youth (DEY) fully resources the policies outlined for Irish Medium Education (outside of the Gaeltacht) and in the Action Plan on Irish in English-Medium Schools.
In that regard, the reinstatement of allowances for teachers working in Gaeltacht schools, island schools and primary Gaelscoileanna will be crucial.
The union also calls for the alignment of any early-years policy with the primary language curriculum specification to allow for seamless transitions from early-years settings to primary school.
The INTO supports the formulation of a policy for the Irish language from early childhood settings to third level, based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. We call on the Government to set out a timeframe for its plans to deliver a progressive support programme for Gaeilge during its term of office.
We are aware of some pilot programmes that the DEY’s Early Years Inspectorate have rolled out in early years settings over the last number of years with some very positive results. These need to be built upon.
Teacher supports
The INTO also recommends the development of Scoileanna Comhpháirtíochta, whereby Gaelscoileanna and English-medium schools can work collaboratively to share practice. This should include teacher mobility arrangements that allow teachers to undertake a period of teaching through Irish in a Gaelscoil or Gaeltacht school, supporting their language confidence.
The union further calls for initial teacher education institutions to establish Eispéireas Scoileanna Lán-Ghaeilge placements for student teachers.
These placements would ensure that all newly-qualifying teachers can experience bilingual and plurilingual approaches in practice. This would support a stronger foundation in language pedagogy which would also benefit the enactment of the redeveloped Primary Language Curriculum.
We firmly believe an improved comprehensive range of free Irish language courses for both practising and beginning teachers should be introduced to enable them to upskill and maintain professional proficiency in the language. This includes teachers who trained abroad and are striving to achieve the required qualification. The Department’s current disposition to these teachers – expecting them to achieve fluency with little practical support – is simply not good enough.
The INTO welcomes the recent collaboration between COGG and the Education Centre network in providing free Irish language courses for teachers and recommends that this initiative be expanded and adequately funded immediately.
Exemptions
The INTO notes that 16% of the exemptions from Irish granted last year were for children attending primary schools. This figure is too high.
We have been calling for a full review of Exemptions from the Study of Irish, especially in the context of the introduction of modern foreign languages in the Redeveloped Primary Curriculum.
Evidence-based research from Ireland and other bilingual and multilingual jurisdictions should be used to evaluate the educational value of the current system of exemptions.
Government must invest in the language
Finally, the INTO emphasises that the vast majority of primary teachers are committed to the Irish language. This includes teachers who already have strong fluency as well as those who are motivated to develop it.
The issue is not passion or willingness, but the sustained lack of departmental support to enable teachers to realise their ambitions to improve their own Irish language skills. Teachers need a support system from Government that matches their commitment.