307. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Education and Youth whether her Department tracks the number of pupils progressing through Irish-medium primary schools in the Fingal area; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50450/26]

Please find attached requested data. The table shows enrolments in a post-primary school in academic year 2025-2026 for pupils who were in 6th class in an Irish medium school in the Fingal County Council area in 2024-2025.

The Policy for Irish-Medium Education outside of the Gaeltacht was launched in November 2025. The policy sets out my department's vision that high-quality Irish-medium education will be available to all, in inclusive and multicultural educational settings. I am committed to my department working with stakeholders to achieve that vision, and to make progress towards delivering on the commitments of the Programme for Government.

The Taskforce on Models of Provision for Irish-Medium Education, which was established under the Policy for Irish-Medium Education outside of the Gaeltacht, is providing a platform for collaboration between my department and key stakeholders to identify a pathway to increase the provision of Irish-medium education. I look forward to the outcome of this taskforce to help strengthen and expand the provision of Irish-medium education.

My department conducted the Primary School Survey in late 2025. The survey, which is the largest of its kind ever undertaken in Ireland with validated responses from over 200,000 households with primary school children and/or younger children, was school specific and aimed to assess parental demand and preferences for different types of primary school provision.

Through the survey, my department has obtained clear information on the preferences of parents and guardians about the primary schools which their children currently attend, or will attend in coming years, on a number of important areas of primary school provision, including language of instruction (Irish or English).

My department provided primary schools with their school-specific results, which included the language preferences (education through Irish or through English) from the parents of their current and potential future pupils.

My department has also published the school-specific reports on the gov.ie webpages, along with a high-level report setting out a summary of the survey results at a national level, including a county breakdown. The survey results will help to support meaningful local engagement and informed decision-making at school level as to the future direction that works best for each individual school community.

Irish-medium primary schools Fingal