Debate contribution: Irish-medium Education (Workforce Plan) Bill: Second Stage

Debate contribution by Mr Pat Sheehan on 14 April 2026.

MLA

Mr Pat Sheehan

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

14 April 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Irish-medium Education (Workforce Plan) Bill: Second Stage

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5482048

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I beg to move

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle.

Some of my remarks will be in Irish during this contribution. Tá áthas orm an Dara Céim den Bhille um Oideachas trí mheán na Gaeilge (Plean don Lucht Oibre) a mholadh.

At the outset, I place on record my thanks to a number of people who have assisted me throughout this process and played a vital role in the development of the Bill. In particular, I thank Alison Belshaw for her professionalism and expertise at every stage. I also thank Frank Geddis and Barbara Love for their advice and support throughout. Irish-medium (IM) education has flourished here, not because it was strategically planned for or consistently supported but because parents, teachers and communities were determined that it would flourish. For decades, the sector had to fight for very basic rights. One respondent to my consultation captured that history clearly:

"The IM sector has had to plead its case for over 50 years for very basic rights."

Today, Irish-medium education is one of the fastest-growing sectors in our education system. However, underneath that growth lies sustained and serious workforce pressure. The aim of the Bill is to address that pressure in a structured and proportionate way. We undertook extensive consultation. The online survey received 529 responses, 95% of which came from individuals directly connected to the sector, including principals, teachers, classroom assistants, early years practitioners, SEN professionals, parents and grandparents. The findings were decisive. Almost 98% agreed that the Department of Education needs to do more to facilitate and encourage Irish-medium education. Ninety-eight per cent agreed that the Department should identify and address workforce shortages, and 97% agreed that there should be a formal mechanism to assess how well the Department is fulfilling its statutory duty. Some 97·2% agreed that legislating in this area would enhance the right to education under the European Convention on Human Rights. One respondent put it plainly:

"There’s no long-term vision, we’re firefighting staffing year on year."

That firefighting culture is not sustainable. It is also disrespectful to a vibrant and growing section of our education system. At the outset of this process, I wrote to the Minister to outline my intentions. The Minister advised that the Department is working on a strategy for Irish-medium education and that it is expected in mid-2027. A strategy is welcome, but strategies can be delayed and deprioritised and Ministers can change. Moreover, of course, mid-2027 happens to fall just after the next Assembly election. I am sure that that is entirely coincidental, but it reinforces the point that strategies tied to election cycles are not the same as statutory duties. Is amhlaidh atá dualgas ar an Roinn cheana féin oideachas trí mheán na Gaeilge a spreagadh agus a éascú. Cuirtear an dualgas sin uirthi le hairteagal ochtó a naoi den Ordú Oideachais naoi déag nócha a hocht. Neartaítear an dóigh a gcomhlíontar an dualgas céanna leis an Bhille seo. Neartaíonn sé oibleagáid reatha, agus tugann sé creat feidhme di.

The workforce pressures facing the sector are now well documented. In a way, the Irish-medium sector is a victim of its own success.

Well, it is absolutely vital. Every child has a right to be educated through the medium of Irish. Where some children have additional needs or require extra support or intervention, it is only right that those services are delivered by professionals who are fluent in the language so that their support is consistent with the language that the children are speaking and the fact that they are in an immersion situation within the Irish-medium sector. Is maith is eol dúinn na brúnna atá ar an earnáil ó thaobh an lucht oibre de. Tá sé ar shlí a ráite gurb é bua na Gaelscolaíochta bunrúta a cuid fadhbanna.

Research from Professor Noel Purdy OBE, Dr Claire McVeigh, Dr Mark Ballentine and Dr Emilia Symington shows that Irish-medium teachers work on average 47 hours per week, significantly beyond directed time. Much of that time is consumed by translation, resource creation and compensating for the lack of Irish language materials and specialist support. There are also persistent shortages of Irish-speaking subject specialists, substitute teachers, classroom assistants and SEN professionals. Restricted subject choice is emerging at post-primary level because recruitment is so difficult. In early years settings, particularly within the voluntary sector, staff instability and underfunding are placing enormous strain on naíscoileanna

, which are rightly described as the foundation of the sector.

Go raibh maith agat.

Yes: the early years sector is absolutely foundational. That is the beginning of a child's entrance into an immersion setting. It is where they develop their relationship with the language. If we do not have a well-supported workforce in the nursery sector — the naíscoileanna

— the entire pipeline into the primary and post-primary sectors will be affected and undermined. That is why it is essential that workforce planning fully reflects early years, ensuring the recruitment, support and retention of staff at that critical stage. Access to staff is not an abstract issue. It affects class sizes, curriculum breadth, staff well-being and children's experience in school. Ní féidir an dualgas reachtúil leis an oideachas trí mheán na Gaeilge a spreagadh agus a éascú, ní féidir sin a chomhlíonadh ar dhóigh fhiúntach gan pleanáil struchtúrtha don lucht oibre.

The consultation looked at workforce planning not only as a policy issue but as a rights and equality issue. Concerns were raised about equality of access, particularly for children with special educational needs, Irish Traveller children and newcomer pupils.

Data suggests that children in Irish-medium education have similar rates of special educational needs as the wider school population. Significantly fewer have statements in place, however. That points to systemic gaps in access to appropriate assessment and support through Irish. My Bill is therefore about not just workforce planning but equality of opportunity and ensuring that children who are educated through Irish are not placed at a disadvantage.

The Bill is deliberately focused. It contains two clauses. It does not attempt to solve every challenge that faces Irish-medium education. Instead, it addresses one foundational issue, which is workforce sustainability. Clause 1 inserts new article 89ZA into the Education Order 1998. First, the new article requires the Department of Education to:

"prepare and then publish a workforce plan in respect of Irish-medium education within 12 months"

of the legislation's coming into operation. That ensures that planning will begin promptly and will not be open-ended. Secondly:

"The Department must keep the workforce plan under review and publish a revised workforce plan at intervals of not more than five years."

Workforce planning must be routine, forward-looking and, at all times, responsive to projected growth and emerging pressures. Thirdly:

"The Minister of Education must lay a workforce plan before the Assembly as soon as possible after it has been published."

That ensures transparency and allows for scrutiny by Members and the Committee for Education. Importantly:

"Within 18 months of laying a workforce plan before the Assembly",

the Minister must publish and lay a report on the implementation of that plan. Planning is one thing, but demonstrating delivery is another. That provision will ensure both. Clause 1 also sets out consultation requirements. In preparing a workforce plan, the Department must consult schools that provide Irish-medium education, teachers, pupils, parents, Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta (CnaG) and others as appropriate. That ensures that future plans are grounded in the lived experience of the sector. Ina theannta sin, cuirtear ceangal ar an Roinn leis an chlásal an t-éileamh reatha agus an t-éileamh ionchais ar an lucht oibre a chur san áireamh, chomh maith le leordhóthanacht an lucht oibre reatha, earcaíocht, coinneáil agus forbairt an lucht oibre, na róil éagsúla taobh istigh den lucht oibre, agus gach cineál soláthair trí mheán na Gaeilge, lena n-áirítear suíomhanna luathbhlianta, bunscoile agus iar-bhunscoile.

Following consultation feedback, it was clear that the workforce plan must explicitly encompass early years practitioners, classroom assistants, SEN support staff and leadership and management roles. Retention and career progression must be addressed alongside recruitment. For me, it is crucial — it is perhaps the most important aspect of the Bill — that the workforce plan contain measurable targets. Without measurable targets, strategy risks becoming aspiration. The Bill requires there to be benchmarks against which progress can be assessed. In essence, clause 1 creates the statutory framework for structured and accountable workforce planning. Clause 2 is technical in nature. It provides that the Act will come:

"into operation on the day after it receives Royal Assent."

It then sets out the short title of the Bill. Some may ask why the Bill does not go further. During the pre-consultation engagement, there was a clear appetite for a broader and more comprehensive Irish-medium education Bill. That ambition is understood, and my initial objective was to introduce a wider-ranging and more comprehensive Irish-medium education Bill to deal with inequities in curriculum and assessment resources, capital infrastructure deficits and so on. However, the Speaker's Office was clear. The Members' Bills process requires a tightly defined scope, and rather than overextend and risk getting nothing, I made a deliberate, strategic decision to focus on the structural issue that underpins many of the other issues, and that is workforce sustainability. Without teachers, classroom assistants, early years practitioners, SEN professionals and leaders, capital investment and curriculum reform, our wider strategy cannot succeed. What the Bill does is more fundamental. It ensures that decisions about recruitment, retention, professional development and workforce support are informed by structured planning, evidence, consultation and measurable targets. It creates a statutory framework within which meaningful interventions can be developed and delivered. Getting workforce planning right will lay the foundations from which the sector can continue to grow and flourish. In conclusion, Irish-medium education has grown because of the determination and commitment of the Irish language community, but we cannot expect that growth to continue on the back of teacher burnout, recruitment crises and short-term firefighting. Is freagra tomhaiste, dírithe, cuí é an Bille i mo thuairim ar na dúshláin atá roimh an oideachas trí mheán na Gaeilge.

I commend the Bill to the Assembly.

1,685 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 01:21 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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