Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will not go much beyond the second sentence in amendment No. 390: "assess population and housing current and future needs of each Limistéar Pleanála Teanga". It reflects the point the Minister made. There are varieties within this. This amendment recognises that and puts the obligation on those who are putting together a development plan to recognise it. It is not one size fits all, and we understand that. We could be here all day discussing how to develop a system of letting for Gaeltacht areas, but there has to be some system. There cannot be a system which imposes an English speaker who has no desire to learn the language and no desire to raise his or her children as Gaeilge on a community struggling to retain its ethos as a Gaeltacht area. That is why in the areas the Minister mentioned in and around Galway and elsewhere there is a debate as to whether certain areas are in fact still part of the Gaeltacht. They are legally part of the Gaeltacht. There is a discussion there. I am one of those who is opposed to contracting. It is a live debate. It is a consequence of exactly the point that there was not a strategy or a development plan which prevented the encroachment. That is why it is a development plan rather than so many of these priority plans. We are already starting to talk about a priority plan for the islands, most of which are in Gaeltacht areas. Then we might talk about another priority plan around Galway city and another one elsewhere, whereas the development plan would capture each of the limistéir pleanála teanga, so you are taking the Gaeltacht as a whole. There are 26 limistéir pleanála teanga, and that is where you capture it. It is a bigger idea.