Despite being opposed to academic selection the Northern Ireland Education Minister, Sinn Féin’s Caitriona Ruane, believes pupils from Irish medium primary schools must get an equal chance of a grammar school place. So, in the new unregulated system, English medium post-primary schools may have to offer Irish language version of their transfer tests.. just like the 11-plus.. From the BBC report
The representative body for Irish-medium education in Northern Ireland, Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta, has written to grammar school groups about the matter. Spokesman Seán Ó Coinn said parents could remove their children from Irish language schools or take legal action if a suitable translation was not available. “We’re unclear what the implications might be, and it very much depends on how parents react,” he said. Last year, the Irish language version of the 11-plus transfer test was sat by 150 out of 327 eligible pupils.