Clare is lagging behind the rest of the country when it comes to the number of pupils attending Gaelscoileanna.

New figures released by the Department of Education show under 5% of those in primary or secondary schools in this county are being taught through Irish.

The data released to Sinn Féin TD Barry Ward in a response to a parliamentary question reveals there are between nine and 10 Gaelscoileanna per county on average.

Despite this, Clare currently has just four.

While 6.5% of pupils nationally are attending a Gaelscoil, this falls to 4.9% here.

Turning to childcare, just 2% of Clare children go to a wholly Irish-medium setting, which is below the national average of 4%.

3% go to mixed medium facilities where both Irish and English are used, which is in line with national trends.

The figures also show that 43% of Clare children attend an English-medium setting where some Irish is used.

By comparison, just 33% of children nationwide go to a childcare facility of this nature.

This means 48% of children in a childcare setting in Clare experience the Irish language compared to just 40% across the country.

You can hear more on this story on Clare FM’s Morning Focus this Tuesday morning from 9am.