A chara,

The Department of Education has launched a public consultation to inform the development of a new policy for Irish-medium education outside of the Gaeltacht.

The development of this new policy is being informed by the outcomes of the public consultation and by national and international research. Additionally, a report on current provision of Irish-medium education outside of the Gaeltacht has been published as an important reference point to inform the consultation and policy development process.

It is vital that the public consultation reaches a large number of people, so that a broad variety of stakeholder views and experiences can be captured. This includes those with a particular interest in the Irish language and Irish-medium education, but also those who do not regularly engage with the Irish language or Irish-medium education. To facilitate this, the Department is now seeking your assistance in the following ways:

· We ask that you share the information about the public consultation and the link to the online questionnaire with staff and parents in your school.

· Where appropriate, please share information about the consultation with your pupils/students and encourage them to participate and share their own views and experiences.

· If your school would like to further contribute to the public consultation, you are also welcome to make a written submission to POLG@education.gov.ie by 16 January 2023.

The questionnaire will be available to complete until 16 January 2023.

In addition to the public consultation, the Department of Education will be holding focus groups with stakeholders in 2023 to further explore the themes that come to the fore in the online consultation and in the research currently underway.

The questionnaire, as well as further information on the consultation process, can be accessed at gov.ie/POLG.

Many thanks for your assistance.

Le gach dea-ghuí,

Department of Education.