{"id":490344,"date":"2026-06-09T09:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T09:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/490344\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T09:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T09:07:08","slug":"rise-in-irish-exemptions-denies-children-part-of-their-identity-report-says-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/490344\/","title":{"rendered":"Rise in Irish exemptions denies children part of their identity, report says \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

An \u201cexponential\u201d increase in schoolchildren getting exemptions from Irish<\/a> is denying them part of their identity, is not inclusive of children with additional needs or born abroad, and is out of sync with how other European countries teach minority languages, a report published on Tuesday says. <\/p>\n

From Exemption to Inclusion, written by P\u00e1draig \u00d3 Duibhir, professor emeritus at Dublin City University<\/a>, was commissioned by Conradh na Gaeilge<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Irish exemptions are granted for two main reasons \u2013 pupils having a learning disability<\/a> or having had their primary education abroad.<\/p>\n

Exemptions at primary level are \u201crelatively stable\u201d, with 12,131 or 2.2 per cent of the cohort in 2024, says the report. \u201cHowever, there has been considerable growth at post-primary level.\u201d <\/p>\n

The percentage of secondary<\/a> pupils exempted has risen from 33,476 (9.4 per cent) in 2017 to 60,946 (14.3 per cent) in 2024. <\/p>\n

If this \u201cdisastrous\u201d trend continues, by 2030 more than one in five (22.5 per cent) post-primary pupils will not be studying Irish, says \u00d3 Duibhir. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf this were to happen, the Government\u2019s target under the Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021 to have over 20 per cent of recruits to the public service proficient in Irish would certainly not be achieved,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The study comes amid reported tensions at Cabinet level<\/a> over the level of commitment from Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton<\/a> to Irish-language<\/a> schooling. <\/p>\n

Naughton pushed back on these reports last week, saying: \u201cThere\u2019s no disagreement. We\u2019re all at one in relation to the importance of Irish, the use of Irish, conversational Irish in schools and outside schools.\u201d <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Children with dyslexia \u2018denied\u2019 chance to learn Irish due to lack of support in schoolsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Spiralling exemptions are being driven by increased diagnosis of learning disabilities such as dyslexia<\/a>, says the report. <\/p>\n

Challenging the \u201cpresumption\u201d that a child with a learning disability cannot learn a language, it says: \u201cOf the 37,974 post-primary pupils exempted in 2024 due to a learning disability, 19,404 (51 per cent) studied a foreign language.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report calls for learning-disabled children to be supported and accommodated to learn Irish as they would be in other subjects.<\/p>\n

Similarly, children who have been educated abroad should be accommodated and supported to learn Irish, it says. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen students are granted an exemption, they are given the message that there is something they cannot do and that they are different from other students.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the short term, students may get relief as a result of an exemption because some pressure has been reduced, but an exemption does not constitute support.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Majority of people support Irish language, all-island survey findsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The report says children exempted from Irish are being denied \u201cthe cognitive benefits of bilingualism, a deeper insight into their heritage, part of their identity, the career and social opportunities … from an ability in Irish, the opportunity to attend a Gaeltacht course, and the opportunity to help their own children with their Irish homework in the future\u201d.<\/p>\n

Looking at the teaching of minority languages across Europe, the author finds Ireland is \u201cout of line\u201d with them, especially as Irish exemptions are \u201cpermanent\u201d. <\/p>\n

In Wales, Welsh is compulsory to the age of 16 and there is \u201cno formal system … to seek an exemption\u201d even for students from other countries. Where there is a disability, \u201cthe teaching of Welsh is tailored\u201d to a child\u2019s needs. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn Wales, Finland, Catalonia, Malta and Luxembourg, the study of regional and minority languages is regarded as a right and a duty,\u201d said \u00d3 Duibhir. <\/p>\n

Among his recommendations are that Irish exemptions \u201ccease\u201d at primary level, at secondary level exemptions should be temporary and partial, and \u201creasonable accommodations could be put in place based on students\u2019 needs as well as adapting the teaching approach\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An \u201cexponential\u201d increase in schoolchildren getting exemptions from Irish is denying them part of their identity, is not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,176362,420,22199,25799,15338,2989,61,60,28205,2055],"class_list":["post-490344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-classroom-central","tag-disability","tag-dublin-city-university","tag-dyslexia","tag-gaeilge","tag-hildegarde-naughton","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-second-level","tag-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}