579. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Education and Youth the position regarding Department-led assessment of demand for Irish-medium secondary schools. [65149/26]

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 November 2025, my 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, 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. The survey results provide a useful guide to inform both future primary and post-primary provision.