Students will be able to use the website - a virtual online language laboratory - to listen to native Irish speakers, record their own material in Irish, undertake self-correcting exercises and interact over the internet with native Irish speakers.

The site was launched on February 1 in Coláiste Choilm, Ballincollig, Co Cork by comedian Des Bishop and the Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe.

Minister O'Keeffe said the website's "mix of audio-visual material, vocabulary and grammar lessons, and self-correcting exercises makes it an innovative, flexible and modern online tool to improve learning and teaching in Irish".

Des Bishop said he wanted to continue to work with Minister O’Keeffe to get more young people speaking Irish. Bishop's award-winning documentary, 'In The Name Of The Fáda', was based on a year he spent learning Irish in the Connemara Gaeltacht.

The site was developed by Mícheál O Foighil at Lurgan in Inverin, Co Galway, along with Irish companies Block 5 and Digilogue.

Sinn Féin Spokesperson on Education Senator Pearse Doherty welcomed the new website but said that he was concerned at the absence of the Donegal dialect in the 'Abair Leat’ pilot project.

He also called on the Minister for Communications Eamonn Ryan to ensure that adequate broadband would be available in all schools for the future roll-out of the programme. (Sources: Irish Times, Irish Examiner)