Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 20 November 2018

Joint Standing Committee on the Irish Language, the Gaeltacht and the Islands

Seirbhísí trí Ghaeilge: An Roinn Leanaí agus Gnóthaí Óige

4:00 pm

Dr. Fergal Lynch:

On recognition for the naíonraí, we do not have a formalised method of doing that. We fund 228 of them currently and our overall approach in the early years area so far has been to focus as much as we possibly can on supporting all early years services, whether they are in Gaeltacht areas or not, for example, or whether they are naíonraí or not, although we are anxious to support the naíonraí as much as we possibly can. Our focus to date has been on improving the services and supports throughout the country, irrespective of whether they are naíonraí or not and there is not a specific recognition mechanism currently.

I refer to youth activities in local areas. I apologise because I did not completely understand the question because I did not hear the translation sufficiently.