2026 is set to be another record-breaking year for Irish language summer colleges in Connemara, and the Aran Islands.
As the Seachtain na Gaeilge period brings an added focus on the Irish language, parents wait for news of course places.
13,000 young people came to the courses in 16 different locations in the Galway Gaeltacht in both 2024 and 2025.
The summer of 2026 has been booked out for the past few months and hundreds of parents are anxiously waiting in the hope that they may get their children in, at a later stage.
The Camus area in mid Connemara had the highest intake of pupils at 1,800 in recent years, and numbers have been up at most summer colleges. Coláiste Sheosaimh in the Cill Chiaráin and Carna area in the far west of Connemara takes in over 1,350.
Courses vary from a fortnight to three weeks in duration, and the first of the thousands of young people come to Connemara and the Aran Islands at Whit weekend, and the colleges are open until mid August.
