Irish Language Committee to hear from Gaillimh le Gaeilge and Cearta Oideachais

Chairperson of the Committee Catherine Connolly TD: “Gaillimh le Gaeilge will address the Committee on the topic Galway - the first city in Ireland to have achieved the status of a bilingual city. Gaillimh le Gaeilge promotes the use of Irish and emphasises the valuable economic resource that the Irish language provides for the city of Galway. It seeks to develop this resource in cooperation with Galway City Council, Galway Chamber and other groups in the city.

“According to an independent study commissioned by Gaillimh le Gaeilge the use of Irish in Galway is worth in excess of €136 million annually and supports 5,000 plus jobs. Gaillimh le Gaeilge seeks to increase the visibility of written Irish in Galway city and supports this objective through the provision of translation services and general supports to enable the business community to develop bilingual signage, websites, letterheads and menus. It also works to promote the speaking of Irish by organising various business events including the monthly Lón Gnó. The Committee hopes to learn from the success of Gaillimh le Gaeilge and to promote similar schemes elsewhere in Ireland.

“Cearta Oideachais will address the Committee on the impact of the Education - Admission to Schools Bill 2017 on schools in Gaeltacht areas and on schools that operate through the medium of Irish. The overall objective of the Bill is to provide a new framework for school enrolment that is designed to ensure that every child is treated fairly and that the way in which schools decide on applications for admission is structured, fair and transparent.  

“While the Committee agrees with this approach, it recognises that special circumstances exist in relation to children whose home language is Irish. These children have the right to be educated through the medium of the Irish language and should not be excluded from an Irish-medium school on the basis of geographical location or on some other administrative basis. Given the low number of Irish-medium schools in comparison to the number of English-medium schools it is imperative that the necessary safeguards are put in place to ensure this.”

This meeting will take place in Committee Room 4 at 2.45 pm tomorrow, Tuesday, 17 January 2017.

Committee proceedings can be viewed live here.

Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the move, through the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.

ENDS