A new online English-Irish dictionary will be launched today by President Michael D Higgins.

The free dictionary, available at focloir.ie, is published by Foras na Gaeilge and has been adapted to work on desktop computers and on mobile devices. It is illustrated with examples to give context to the Irish entries and also contains sound files and grammatical information.

Foras na Gaeilge said the dictionary is being published on a phased basis and the full content will not be online until the end of next year.

The entries published this month are about 30 per cent of the eventual content. But the organisation said this covered about 80 per cent of general English usage.

Enlarged and enhanced versions of the dictionary will be published online at regular intervals during 2013 and 2014. A print edition is expected in 2015.