All Gaelscoileanna must teach English for 30 minutes each day starting from the second term of junior infants, according to a new circular issued by Minister for Education Mary Hanafin.
The directive follows complaints that some schools favouring total immersion in Irish provide no English tuition for the first two years in primary school.
In recent years, there has been considerable controversy in one Co Kerry school where some parents raised concerns about the policy of total immersion.
Gaelscoil Mhic Easmuinn in Tralee was at the centre of a Department of Education inquiry which examined complaints from some parents that no lessons in English were being given to children in junior and senior infants.
In announcing the new policy yesterday, Ms Hanafin signalled she would no longer tolerate a situation where schools were adopting an a la carte approach to the teaching of English.
There is some evidence from inspectors' visits, she said, that students in some situations were falling behind in English where total immersion was common.
"So I think that it is important that children from an early stage . . . should have access to both languages, that they would be literate in both Irish and in English and that the children in Gaelscoileanna would be at the same reading level in English as their friends are in other schools."
She also said schools with a tradition of total immersion would have until 2008 to implement the new policy.
But the Minister said "the key thing is that you will inform all your parents so that they would be fully aware, from the very beginning that if you send your child to a Gaelscoil exactly what the policy is".
She said the new circular is "just about ensuring that every child in the country would do Irish and English at the earliest possible opportunity".
