Irish Language Committee publishes report on Múscraí Gaeltacht

The report is based on a visit by a delegation from the Committee to the Múscraí Gaeltacht on 2 October 2017. The report contains 23 recommendations which are relevant to Múscraí and the other Gaeltachts across the country.

Recommendations 10, 11 and 12 call for a system to be put in place to ensure that teachers in all subjects who are fluent in Irish and who are trained to teach their subjects through the medium of Irish, are provided to all primary and secondary schools in Gaeltacht areas. Complementing this, Recommendation 13 calls for the provision of the text books in all subjects in Irish.  

Committee Chair Catherine Connolly said: “The two go hand in hand; teachers proficient in the Irish language and text books of a high standard in the Irish language.  These are essential prerequisites which we are calling on the Minister for Education and Skills to put in place immediately.”

The Committee is also calling on the Government to put in place the necessary measures to ensure that people who wish to access State services through Irish can actually to do so.

Deputy Connolly said: “The vast majority of these services are not available through the medium of Irish, and when Irish speakers seek them, they are obliged to switch to English, to ensure that they obtain the service they require. In regard to this, the Committee, while recognising the difficulties faced by Irish speakers, calls, in Recommendation 23, for Irish speakers to be far more vocal in expressing their dissatisfaction when they are unable to access these services through Irish, and to put their complaints in writing to the service provider.”

Recommendation 20 calls on the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to support the establishment of a youth club in Cill na Martra and to support it and other youth clubs in Múscraí on a continuing basis.  Recommendation 21 calls for the provision of adequate public transport services in Múscraí and in other Gaeltachts to allow young people and others to travel within the Gaeltacht and to the nearby urban centres, so that they can avail of educational, recreational and other facilities while at the same time continuing to live in the Gaeltacht itself.

Read the report here: https://beta.oireachtas.ie/en/committees/32/irish-language-the-gaeltacht-and-the-islands/