Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 3 October 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs

Mid-Year Review of Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Discussion

1:30 pm

Photo of Éamon Ó CuívÉamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is unfortunate that there was an overlap with committee meetings earlier. The Minister stated that an unprecedented amount of money is being provided for the Irish language under the national development plan. Given that the provision of €178 million works out at €17.8 million a year, I ask her to outline the basis for her statement to the effect that the amount is unprecedented. In 2008, national expenditure on Voted services was €61.86 billion. In 2018, it is €61.7 billion. The amounts are almost exactly the same. All of the Estimate to which I refer was spent. That can be seen by looking at what was spent in 2007. The Estimate for 2008 provided for total expenditure of €121 million under the Vote for an Ghaeilge, an Ghaeltacht, na hoileáin agus an Foras Teanga. The equivalent figure for 2018 is €62 million, which is approximately half of the figure from a decade ago. I remind the Minister that I am comparing two periods of identical national expenditure. The amount of money being provided for an Ghaeilge, an Ghaeltacht agus na hoileáin has been halved. An examination of capital expenditure, which is basically what is in the national development plan, will show that there was capital expenditure of €73 million in 2008, whereas €10 million is being provided for in 2018. That is a ratio of over 7:1. I have to say I find the Minister's statement to the effect that this is an unprecedented plan difficult to take. I ask the Minister to outline the basis on which she refers to the plan as unprecedented. Perhaps she means that it is unprecedentedly small.

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