Ms Caroline Phelan:

I have one question and it is to do with analysis of how one perpetuates a language that is challenged. If you lives in a city, your interactions will be very frequent. If you lived in an estate that was exclusively Irish speaking, that in itself would not save the language. What other methodology within a land use plan does the Chairman see as saving it?

On the reference to the overture, that may have been in the housing programme of the local authority, that may have been an overture from a councillor at that stage about having one exclusively for Irish speakers. It did not come up during the duration of the previous development plan, for which period Cathal Ó Conchúir was around.

There seems to be just one solution to salvaging the Irish language and it seems to be predicated exclusively on having single housing estates within an urban area. Looking at linguistics globally and peripheral languages that are challenged, the platform for sustaining and extending those is not exclusively based elsewhere on housing. I wonder what other areas the Chairman sees in the development plan. We see it for the cultural aspect, communication and business and the Gaelscoileanna, which have been a total success in the city.