In Northern Ireland, children can be taught in Irish from primary school onwards, and the law gives the Department of Education a specific duty about it. For families considering Irish-medium education, and for adult learners curious about how the language is taught to children, the Department’s pages and the legislation set out the essentials. This article summarises them. It concerns Northern Ireland only; the wider legal status of Irish there is covered in the site’s guide to Irish and Ulster Scots in Northern Ireland and the 2022 Act.
What Irish-medium education means
The Department of Education describes Irish-medium education as education provided in an Irish speaking school. The Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 defines it in almost identical words in article 89, which says “Irish-medium education” means education provided in an Irish speaking school.
The Department’s statutory duty
Article 89(1) of the 1998 Order says it shall be the duty of the Department to encourage and facilitate the development of Irish-medium education. Article 89(2) allows the Department, subject to conditions it thinks fit, to pay grants to any body that appears to it to have the encouragement or promotion of Irish-medium education as an objective. Article 89(3) says the Department’s approval of a proposal to establish a new Irish speaking voluntary school may be granted on terms and conditions the Department determines. The Department’s own page repeats the duty in similar terms.
These provisions describe what the Department must do, not a right for a particular family to a place in a particular school, so admission arrangements for individual schools are outside the scope of this article.
How many schools and units there are
According to the Department, there are currently 30 Irish-medium schools in Northern Ireland and a further 10 Irish-medium units attached to English-medium host schools. Of the 30 schools, 28 are primary and two are post-primary. Of the 10 units, seven are primary and three are post-primary. The Department’s list of Irish-medium schools names the stand-alone primary schools, including Bunscoil Phobal Feirste and Gaelscoil an Lonnáin among many others, and names the two stand-alone post-primary schools as Colaiste Feirste and Gaelcholáiste Dhoire. It also lists English-medium host schools that have an Irish-medium unit at primary or post-primary level.
The list page gives pupil totals for the 2020/21 school year: 4,604 pupils in Years 1 to 7 in primary Irish-medium provision, and 1,511 pupils in Years 7 to 14 in post-primary provision. These are figures for that year; the Department directs readers to its education data infographics for statistics on Irish-medium education, so a family or researcher wanting current numbers should use those. The list page and the main Irish-medium page differ slightly in how they describe the post-primary units, so anyone relying on a specific school should check its status with the Department or the school.
Who to contact
The Department says that people wanting more information can contact Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta (CnaG), a body the Department established in August 2000 whose remit is to promote Irish-medium education. CnaG is the practical first stop for questions about local provision, alongside the individual schools.
Stand-alone schools and units compared
- Stand-alone schools. These are Irish-medium schools in their own right. Examples named by the Department at post-primary level are Colaiste Feirste and Gaelcholáiste Dhoire.
- Units. The Department describes these as Irish-medium units attached to English-medium host schools. The Department lists host schools such as St Patrick’s Primary School and St Malachy’s High School.
The Department’s pages do not compare the two models or their outcomes, so this article does not rank them.
What this means for language learners
Adult learners are served by different routes, such as the courses and awards described in the site’s guide to Teastas Eorpach na Gaeilge, which concerns Ireland’s adult certificate. For comparison with the Welsh model, where a statute sets minimum shares of Welsh teaching, see the site’s guide to the Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Act 2025.
Common questions
Is Irish-medium education compulsory in Northern Ireland? The sources above describe a duty on the Department to encourage and facilitate it, not a requirement on schools or families to use it.
How many Irish-medium schools are there? The Department says 30 schools plus 10 units attached to English-medium host schools.
The bottom line
In Northern Ireland, Irish-medium education means teaching in an Irish speaking school, and article 89 of the Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 places a duty on the Department of Education to encourage and facilitate its development. The Department reports 30 schools and 10 units, and points enquirers to Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta. Families should confirm the current status of any school directly and use the Department’s latest statistics. This is general information, not legal advice.
Sources
- Department of Education (Northern Ireland), “Irish-medium schools” (education-ni.gov.uk)
- Department of Education (Northern Ireland), “List of Irish-medium schools” (education-ni.gov.uk)
- legislation.gov.uk, “Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1998, article 89 (Irish-medium education)”