From tomorrow, every county in the State will have a Gaelscoil with the opening of the first one in Co Leitrim.
Gaelscoil Liatroma in Carrick-on-Shannon will initially have 62 pupils and three teachers.
Another three schools - Gaelscoil Uí hEarcáin, Finglas, Dublin; Gaelscoil an tSlí Dála, Ballaghmore, Co Laois (operating under joint Church of Ireland and Catholic patronage); and Gaelscoil Eiscir Riada, Lucan, Co Dublin - are also due to open this month, bringing the total at primary level to 157.
The number of students learning through Irish will be more than 30,000 when the 6,000 students at secondary level are included.
According to the principal of Gaelscoil Liatroma, Caitríona Nic Chonchradha, many parents were becoming aware of the benefits of a bilingual education for their children. She said the new school envisaged taking on more students and at least one more teacher next year.
However, Ms Nic Chonchradha said not all parents in the county would be able to travel to Carrick-on-Shannon. Although the Department of Education tended to favour extending existing Gaelscoileanna, she said new schools needed to be built around the country.
"We should, as parents, have a right to look for an Irish-language education for children within a reasonable distance."
Nóra Ní Loingsigh, acting director of Gaelscoileanna, the co-ordinating body for schools that teach through Irish, yesterday welcomed the fact that every county now had a Gaelscoil.
However she said provision of an all-Irish education at second level was set to become an issue in the future.