Irish still north’s third most popular GCSE language, with over half of pupils taking it earning As

Irish remains the third most popular GCSE language for pupils in the north and is continuing to rise in popularity, data shows.

The number of Irish GCSE pupils achieving tops marks for their exams is also growing, according to the stats from the Joint Council of Qualifications.

The total number of pupils who sat GCSE Irish this year in Northern Ireland was 1,993, which was an increase of 132 from 2024.

Irish remains behind Spanish and French as the most popular GCSE languages, and both also saw an increase in the number of pupils studying them at that level.

Spanish, the most popular by far, saw the biggest increase, with 4,133 GCSE pupils across the north, and increase of 379.

German, which is the fourth most popular language at GCSE, saw the number sitting exams drop to just 588 this year.

There was a slight increase in pupils sitting other modern language GCSEs, at 375 - up from 336 last year.

With Irish, more girls than boys are choosing the subject for GCSE, with this year 1,143 sitting it compared to 850 boys.

The number of girls taking it in 2025 rose by 74 overall, while 58 more boys did compared to last year.

In terms of the north’s Irish GCSE pupils, the overall percentage achieving an A or A* grade was 50.4%, up from 48.6% in 2024.

Girls are also performing better in terms of achieving As or A*s in Irish, with 57.2% - up from 54.3% last year - compared to 41.3% of boys, which rose from 2024’s 40.8%.

The head of education at the British Council Northern Ireland, Mary Mallon, said: “Those who have chosen to study languages deserve particular praise for taking on the challenge of learning to communicate across cultures.”

She added: “It is encouraging to see a 6.4% increase in overall GCSE language entries this year. This is a positive step, showing more young people are engaging with languages at a key point in their education.”