This is a time of great change, vulnerability and possibility for the Irish language and for Irish-medium education. Research shows the language in serious decline in the Gaeltacht; areas of Ireland designated as being predominantly Irish speaking. There are also inconsistent approaches at the policy level in addition to an ambiguous attitude to the language amongst the general public. This article examines the research, policies and recent initiatives relating to Irish-medium education and to the language itself. A core imperative underpinning this article is to explicate a strong case for the connection between Irish-medium education and international research on Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), a field that encompasses the cognate area of immersion education best practice and draws on the theory and practice of language acquisition, teaching and learning. The authors contend that if the language learning outcomes of students in Irish-medium education, particularly at the post-primary level, are to be maximised, now is an opportune time, if not the last chance, to truly actualise CLIL.

对于爱尔兰语和爱尔兰语教育来说，这是一个发生巨大变化、脆弱性和可能性的时代。研究表明盖尔塔语的语言严重衰退；爱尔兰被指定为主要讲爱尔兰语的地区。除了公众对语言的模棱两可的态度外，在政策层面也存在不一致的做法。本文审视了与爱尔兰语教育和语言本身相关的研究、政策和近期举措。支撑本文的核心要务是阐明爱尔兰教育与国际内容和语言综合学习 (CLIL) 研究之间联系的有力案例，一个包含浸入式教育最佳实践的同源领域并借鉴语言习得、教学和学习的理论和实践的领域。作者认为，如果要最大限度地提高爱尔兰语教育学生的语言学习成果，尤其是小学后水平的学生，现在是真正实现 CLIL 的最佳时机，即使不是最后的机会。