Exemptions from taking Irish exams on the rise

Although the teaching of Irish remains compulsory in the Republic, the numbers of students gaining exemptions from taking Junior and Leaving Cert exams is on the increase. According to the Irish Times (subs only) “only 1,719 students secured an exemption in 1994 compared to 6,588 last year”. Just as worryingly for the health of the language, the numbers taking Irish the highest grade at Leaving Cert last year dropped to only 14,000 students. It compares to 15,000 who took French.

Categories Uncategorised Tags

We are reader supported. Donate to keep Slugger lit!

For over 20 years, Slugger has been an independent place for debate and new ideas. We have published over 40,000 posts and over one and a half million comments on the site. Each month we have over 70,000 readers. All this we have accomplished with only volunteers we have never had any paid staff.

Slugger does not receive any funding, and we respect our readers, so we will never run intrusive ads or sponsored posts. Instead, we are reader-supported. Help us keep Slugger independent by becoming a friend of Slugger. While we run a tight ship and no one gets paid to write, we need money to help us cover our costs.

If you like what we do, we are asking you to consider giving a monthly donation of any amount, or you can give a one-off donation. Any amount is appreciated.