Iontach! €1.5m to increase awareness of Irish-language job opportunities

Record 3-year funding has been approved for Gluaiseacht – Conradh na Gaeilge’s interactive awareness roadshow highlighting Irish-language employment opportunities for young people

Over 42,250 young people are expected to be reached directly each year by the initiative, with additional staff set to be employed, including a coordinator.

The Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, Dara Calleary, announced the increased funding of €1.5 million over a three-year period (2025-2027) on Friday.

With this project, young people are encouraged to use their Irish in a conscious way, and they are informed of all the ways in which they can use the language. Emphasis is placed on the various advantages associated with it, particularly the economic advantages and employment opportunities. This is primarily done through the roadshow - an interactive workshop for young people which serves post-primary schools, third-level institutions and/or summer colleges.

Additionally, the Gluaiseacht team attends careers fairs and events to inform students, as well as those interested in a change of career, about the various, dynamic and inclusive opportunities available in the public service to those competent in Irish.

With the enactment of the Official Languages (Amendment) Act in 2021, the publication of the National Plan for Irish Language Public Services 2024-2030 in October 2024, as well as the transformative change towards a bilingual public service, raising awareness of the employment opportunities that exist for those who speak Irish is a central to these efforts. Of course, one of the primary goals of the language legislation is to have 20% of recruits to public bodies be competent in Irish by the end of 2030.

To achieve this goal, it will be essential to keep young people using their language skills, regardless of which career path they choose. The Gluaiseacht project - through its broad functions and connections - is therefore essential so that all the various career paths and opportunities that exist for those with Irish across the public sector can be highlighted. It is in this context that this record funding has now been approved - up 177% from the 2023-2024 grant.

Announcing this significant funding, Minister Calleary said:

“I am pleased that my Department is able to continue supporting this ambitious project of raising awareness, run by Conradh na Gaeilge, emphasising the various employment opportunities available to those with Irish. It encourages young people to maintain, nurture and develop their language skills during their education years and, indeed, when they move on to employment.

“Gluaiseacht strongly supports a major goal of the Language Act and the National Plan published by my Department last year – that is to see a large increase in the number of people who are able to provide public services bilingually and who actively use the Irish language in their daily work.

“I have often said that the move towards a bilingual public service depends greatly on the Act’s 20% recruitment target, as well as the various strategies being implemented by my Department to create an ecosystem in which the Irish language is at the heart of public service delivery.

“To bolster the number of staff available to provide those services, we must focus on young people in the education system and inform them of the existence of these opportunities. This project looks to do just that and I am delighted to provide additional funding so that can continue now into the future.”