Irish Language Committee calls for specific funding for young people in the Gaeltacht

It also recommends that specific funding be provided to the organisations that are working with young persons in the Gaeltacht and that are operating through the medium of Irish and that this funding will match the funding provided to the organisations that are working with young persons who are operating through the medium of English.

Every assistance should be given to Gaeltacht areas to establish and maintain drop-in centres in which young persons may come together and organise clubs, activities, sports and other events through the medium of Irish, the Committee recommends.

The report follows a meeting in October on ‘Straitéis Óige don Ghaeltacht’ with representatives of Muintearas, which has a role in planning and implementing activities for young people in Gaeltacht areas. Muintearas has developed the ‘Straitéis do dhaoine óga na Gaeltachta’ after consulting widely with individuals and groups throughout the Gaeltacht.

Committee Chair Catherine Connolly TD: “The Joint Committee is aware of the challenges facing young persons who are growing up in the Gaeltacht and the challenges facing young persons who are seeking to have the opportunity to remain living in the Gaeltacht when they attend third level colleges, when they seek employment and when they start to raise families of their own.

The primary aim of this Straitéis is to tackle these challenges and to offer hope and assistance to young persons in the Gaeltacht, so that they will have the choice, if they so wish, to remain living in their own locality and to pass on their own language to their children – the next generation in the Ghaeltacht.

The Joint Committee welcomes the Straitéis as an active and encompassing plan that will benefit young persons living in the Gaeltacht and will benefit the Gaeltacht itself. Our report is not seeking to repeat the recommendations set out in the Straitéis but to assist in how it can be implemented and how best it can be used to provide for the youth of the Gaeltacht and facilitate them in remaining in their local areas as native speakers.”

The full report and recommendations can be access here.