Born in Northern Ireland, do I need Irish for university or leaving cert?

delphinium123 · 27-02-2013 9:07pm #1

Hello, I was born in Northern Ireland but I've lived and gone to school in the south all my life. Do I need to have Irish to to go to university/college and do I have to do it for the leaving cert?

kingcobra · 27-02-2013 9:10pm

I'm fairly sure you do. Do you do it now? I know a couple of guys who moved here from England and they joined up in 5th class and it was compulsory for them to do Irish, even though they had a lot to catch up on

delphinium123 · 27-02-2013 9:14pm

Yeah I've always done Irish in school but I've never been any good at it, I just find it impossible to do well in, I can barely pass. None of my other subjects are a problem I can get A's in all of them at higher level but Irish is just impossible to me and its stressing me out a lot

borrch · 27-02-2013 9:21pm

If you have a passport with a birth place outside of the 26 counties you do not have to sit the Irish LC..! But you will have to get on to NUI for this to be enacted for entry to university. Hope this helps

Peregrine · 27-02-2013 9:22pm

Short answer, no.

Long answer: No but there's paperwork involved and you still have to study Irish. You have to learn it because you went to school here from an early age and therefore the Department of Education requires you to. If you started school in the Republic before you were 11 you could have got exempted altogether.

As for colleges, the only universities that require Irish are the NUIM and NUIG, UCD, UCC and NUI associated colleges. But they will exempt you from this entry requirement if you were born outside the 26 counties. You have to fill out a form and send it in with a copy of your non-Irish birth cert and that'll do. So basically you have to learn it but if you screw up Irish in the Leaving Cert, it doesn't matter.

It's really confusing, I just went through all this 2 months ago. Hope to have helped

PM me if you have any more questions.

delphinium123 · 27-02-2013 9:29pm

Nimrod 7 wrote: »

Short answer, no.

Long answer: No but there's paperwork involved and you still have to study Irish. You have to learn it because you went to school here from an early age and therefore the Department of Education requires you to. If you started school in the Republic before you were 11 you could have got exempted altogether.

As for colleges, the only universities that require Irish are the NUIM and NUIG, UCD, UCC and NUI associated colleges. But they will exempt you from this entry requirement if you were born outside the 26 counties. You have to fill out a form and send it in with a copy of your non-Irish birth cert and that'll do. So basically you have to learn it but if you screw up Irish in the Leaving Cert, it doesn't matter.

It's really confusing, I just went through all this 2 months ago. Hope to have helped PM me if you have any more questions.

Thanks a lot that's really helpful!!

homeandabroad · 27-02-2013 9:29pm

Do you know what course you want to do? It's not true that you have to have Irish for every course, a lot of technical courses, for example don't require you to pass it, the requirement is usually Irish OR English. If you have an idea of what course you want to do then go on the CAO website and go to the course you want and check out the entry requirements.
Lots of people struggle with Irish, if it was compulsory for all courses a lot of people wouldn't be able to study at all!

The Pheasant · 27-02-2013 9:34pm

I was born in amsterdam (both my parents are Irish) and we moved back to Ireland a couple of months after I was born. I did all my schooling in Ireland too and yet I was still eligible for an Irish exemption! Just call NUI and they'll sort it out for you, but get it done soon otherwise you'll be too late!

Peregrine · 27-02-2013 9:54pm

delphinium123 wrote: »

Thanks a lot that's really helpful!!

Nimrod 7 wrote: »

Short answer, no.

Long answer: No but there's paperwork involved and you still have to study Irish. You have to learn it because you went to school here from an early age and therefore the Department of Education requires you to. If you started school in the Republic before you were 11 you could have got exempted altogether.

As for colleges, the only universities that require Irish are the NUIM and NUIG, UCD, UCC and NUI associated colleges. But they will exempt you from this entry requirement if you were born outside the 26 counties. You have to fill out a form and send it in with a copy of your non-Irish birth cert and that'll do. So basically you have to learn it but if you screw up Irish in the Leaving Cert, it doesn't matter.

It's really confusing, I just went through all this 2 months ago. Hope to have helped PM me if you have any more questions.

Sorry, I meant after

They have some crazy notion that once you turn 11 you suddenly lose all ability to learn multiple languages

Born in Northern Ireland, do I need Irish for university or leaving cert?

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