Having established that many English-speaking countries, and indeed many non-English-speaking countries worldwide, cannot claim to have a plurilingual populace; that childhood and adolescence are the ideal time to foster plurilingual citizens; and that the education system is the most opportune vehicle to achieve the plurilingual vision of the Barcelona Summit Agreement (mother tongue plus two additional languages), this chapter posits that it is not possible to present any solution to the plurilingual conundrum without thoroughly understanding the issues impeding students from reaching their plurilingual potential. Taking the Irish education system as an example of wider practice, this chapter presents 15 impediments to students becoming truly plurilingual.