533. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Education and Youth the plans currently in place to establish new Gaelscoileanna and Gaelcholáistí over the next five years; and the locations being considered. [64841/26]

New schools are only established in areas of demographic growth, as the resources available for school infrastructure have to be prioritised to ensure that every child has a school place.

Demographic requirements in an area determine the need or otherwise for establishing new schools. While there are no Irish medium or English medium schools planned currently (other than new special schools), this position is kept under constant review by my department.

While my department is not currently opening new schools, the department is fully committed to supporting Irish medium provision and has invested over €570m over the last 6 years in new school buildings and modernising existing facilities for Irish medium schools across the country. My department will continue to support Irish medium provision as part of NDP rollout during the 2026 to 2030 period.

In relation to Irish medium provision, the Programme for Government 2025, Securing Ireland’s Future, includes a commitment to establish Gaelscoileanna and Gaelcholáistí where there is demand and support parents choosing Irish-medium education for their children.

In this regard, the department published a ‘Policy for Irish-medium Education outside of the Gaeltacht’.

A key recommendation of this report was the establishment of a Taskforce on Models of Provision for Irish-medium Education, which commenced its work in November 2025.

The role of the taskforce is to provide a platform for collaboration between the department and key stakeholders to develop a pathway to increase provision of Irish-medium education nationally. The taskforce's work is expected to be completed within one year. It will make recommendations to the department on areas such as the criteria for Irish-medium education provision, how to support schools transitioning to Irish-medium and mechanisms to facilitate expansion of provision.

Finally, my department's Primary School Survey, the largest of its kind ever undertaken in Ireland, was school specific and aims 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).

Parental preferences from the primary school survey have been published and this provides a comprehensive evidence base to underpin decision-making on the level of demand for Irish medium provision. Primary schools have been given an opportunity to reflect on the outcome of the survey and indicate to the Department by 31 October if, following local consultations, they are interested in change - including in relation to moving to Irish medium provision.