Nearly 600 children in the Shannonside region were told they didn't have to study Irish in secondary school in one academic year. Kids are often given an exemption if they've come here from abroad. There are three main reasons why secondary school students can get exemptions from studying Irish - if they've come here from abroad, have literacy difficulties, or have multiple and persistent needs. If a child has done their entire primary education abroad, they don't have to study Irish in secondary school. New figures, from Education Minister Helen McEntee, reveal 599 children in the Shannonside region were granted exemptions in the 2023/2024 school year.
They include 204 in Leitrim, 256 in Longford and 139 in Roscommon. Minister McEntee says school enrolments at secondary schools nationwide rose by 17 per cent between 2018 and 2024. Nearly 37,000 secondary-school age kids came to Ireland in the six-year period.
