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

Ní choinneoidh mé an tAire i bhfad. I refer first to the issue of the capital spend. There was an allocation of €40.107 million and the profile to 30 June was less than half of that, for some reason. I can never understand why we can never get people to do anything in the first half of the year; they certainly do not send bills in. The profile was €17.015 million but the spend was only €11.296 million. While the profile was for some inexplicable reason less than 50% of the allocation, only 66% of that profile was spent. It is also stated that the total allocation for cultural infrastructure and development for the year was €12.15 million.

The profile outlined that €4 million was be spent but only €1 million has been spent. How much had been spent as of 30 September? We are getting into the endgame because all bills should be submitted by the end of November in order to give the usual 30 days to check receipts and so on. Can the Minister explain the shortfall in spending?

Baineann an dara ceist atá agam le Gaillimh 2020 Príomhchathair Chultúir na hEorpa. An bhfuil an Roinn sásta leis an méid tábhacht atá á thabhairt ag Gaillimh 2020 don acmhainn cultúrtha is luachmhaire san iarthar, is é sin an teanga? Déantar go leor rudaí in áiteanna eile ar dhomhan, ach níl ach tír amháin ina bhfuil an Ghaeilge á labhairt. Is teanga ársa, thar a bheith tábhachtach, agus thar a bheith luachmhar i gcomhthéacs na hEorpa agus an domhain í. Is beag teanga go bhfuil stair scríofa chomh fada aici leis an nGaeilge. Ó tharla go bhfuil riar maith maoinithe ag teacht ó Roinn na hAirí, an bhfuil siad sásta leis an mbéim atá á chur ag Gaillimh 2020 ar an nGaeilge, ar saíocht na Gaeilge, agus ar gach rud a bhaineann leis an nGaeilge? Baineann an ceol, na hamhráin agus an fhilíocht leis an nGaeilge.

People often refer to John Millington Synge, W.B. Yeats and the Irish revival poets but without the Irish language, they were nothing. All their inspiration came from the Irish language, Irish mythology and so on. I am not sure whether I am a big fan of John Millington Synge. He used literal translation into English. One could do the same thing from English to Irish by translating word for word, putting the words in the wrong order and getting bizarre grammar. In spite of that, he is one of our most famous playwrights. Much of his work was inspired by Inis Meáin, one of the Aran Islands, where he stayed in what is now known as Teach Synge. Is the Minister happy that there is enough emphasis in the Galway 2020 programme on the Gaeltacht, the Irish language and our unique linguistic heritage? The Irish language is a particularly valuable cultural asset because it has such a long written history. In fact, it has the longest written history of any extant vernacular language this side of the Alps. As the Department is one of the big funders of Gaillimh 2020, is the Minister happy with the emphasis on the Irish language in its programme?