The push towards childhood language learning: ‘For primary-aged pupils, it opens minds’

As soon as they enter the education system, children in Ireland begin learning their mother tongue. But while almost 40 per cent of adults have some ability to speak Irish , only 1.5 per cent of the population speak it on a daily basis outside of the education system. These figures, from Census 2022 , also revealed that we are lagging behind our European counterparts when it comes to speaking foreign languages, with only 15 per cent of the Irish population proficient in a second language, compared to up to 59 per cent of Europeans.