Increase in entries for Irish language at A Level in Northern Ireland

Irish language has overtaken French to have the second highest enrolment figures at A level in the North.

Its popularity has shifted back into second place after dropping to third last year with 282 entries for 2024.

Spanish remains the most popular language, followed by Irish, French and German.

Overall, there has been a decline in A-level exam entries for international languages in the north.

French and Spanish entries declined by 15% and 9% respectively compared to 2023

German is the fourth most popular language and bucks the trend with a 19% increase in entries compared to 2023.

Jonathan Stewart, Director, British Council Northern Ireland, said: “As stated in our most recent Language Trends 2023 report the advantages of language skills and intercultural understanding are more important than ever.

“Languages open doors for young people to connect with new people, places and cultures, enable us to collaborate internationally on global challenges and are vital for supporting Northern Ireland’s economic ambitions and relationships across the world.”

Irish has overtaken French to be the second most popular A-level language

Census 2021 revealed that 4.6 per cent (85,100 people) of the population aged 3 and over had a main language other than English - up from 54,500 people in 2011.

12.4 per cent of the Northern Ireland population aged 3 and over have some ability in Irish language.

In 2021/2022, there were 28 Irish-medium primary schools and seven primary schools with an Irish-medium unit, in which 4,661 pupils learned through Irish.

By comparison, in 2018/2019, there were 4,351 pupils and in 2005/2006 there were just 2,365 pupils learning through Irish.