4. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THE STRATEGY

Following on from the 2006 Policy Statement, the headline goal has been set of increasing over 20 years the number of

• • people with a knowledge of Irish from the current 1.66 million to 2 million; and
• • daily speakers of Irish from the current level of approximately 83,000 to 250,000.

The achievement of these ambitious goals has been the overriding consideration in formulating the decisions on areas for action in this Strategy.

The specific objectives involved in the preparation of the Strategy are to:

• • increase the number of speakers who speak Irish on a daily basis outside the educational system from 83,000 to 250,000;
• • increase the number of speakers who speak Irish on a daily basis in the Gaeltacht as its invigoration will be critical to the overall plan/strategy; and
• • increase the number of people that use State services through the Irish language and can access television, radio and print media through the language.