Children in Ireland are taught the Irish language from when they enter primary school until they finish secondary school - a period of approximately 13 years. Their individual progress is monitored through classroom-based tests and state examinations at second level. In addition, national surveys continue to monitor standards of achievement at primary level (Harris and Murtagh, 1999). Little attention, however, is given to the question of how enduring school-acquired Irish skills are in the long term, in a society where there is little opportunity to speak or use Irish outside of the class/school setting. Many parents of young children often return to Irish language classes believing that they have lost most of what they have learned at school. A number of questions may be asked. How quickly does proficiency in Irish decline? Is there a threshold of proficiency which may be considered resistant to attrition? How do factors such as motivation affect retention and maintenance of skills? Such issues are addressed in the context of a description of a small-scale longitudinal study which measured attrition/retention of school-acquired Irish language skills over an eighteen month period (Murtagh, 2003). Proficiency levels of final year secondary school students were assessed just before their Leaving Certificate Examination using a specially designed test of basic communicative competence in spoken Irish as well as a general measure of proficiency in Irish (C-test). The sample represented learners from three different instructional backgrounds in Irish who attended 12 schools in the Dublin area. Two of these three groups learned Irish as a subject only at school, one studying the 'ordinary level' syllabus and the other the 'higher level' syllabus in mainstream English-medium schools. The third group attended immersion (Irish-medium) schools where all subject areas are taught through Irish. From the initial sample of 95 students, 59 were involved in the follow-up study where the same tests were administered. Information on initial home and community use of Irish, attitude and motivation in relation to learning Irish and details on continued contact with, and use of, the language since leaving secondary school were collected. The study is unique in that it is the first longitudinal study to try to measure attrition of second language speaking skills, which are regarded as being less resistant to attrition than receptive skills. Overall, test scores showed no significant change for the period in question, despite the absence of formal instruction and a significant decline in opportunity to use Irish informally. However, a comparison of self-ability ratings in spoken Irish at Time 2 and Time 1 and introspective comments after testing at Time 2 suggested that many participants perceived their speaking skills to have deteriorated since Time 1. A simple interpretation of this mismatch is that students do not loose or forget as much as they think they do. It is argued, however, that the the process of attrition may not be so straightforward. It is hoped that the planned next phase of the study will further elucidate this complex area of study. References Harris, J., & Murtagh, L. (1999). Teaching and learning Irish in primary school. Dublin: Institiúid Teangeolaíochta Éireann. Murtagh, L. 2003 Retention and Attrition of Irish as a Second Language. A longitudinal study of general and communicative proficiency in Irish among second level school leavers and the influence of instructional background, language use and attitude/motivation variables. Ph.D. Thesis. University of Groningen, October 2003.