Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Austerity is the biggest danger to the Irish language and Gaeltacht communities. The cuts made to pay off the banking debts have hit Irish language programmes and job creation initiatives in Gaeltacht communities. The regressive changes to public sector employment and job numbers has impacted on the provision of public services and on the ability of the public sector to provide services through Irish. We have seen a massive rise in emigration from Ireland through the austerity years with young people moving abroad to seek employment. The Central Statistics Office estimates that the net emigration figure from 2008 to 2014 is 141,000, 81,000 of whom are those under 24 years of age. Rural areas have been particularly hit hard by youth migration as young people move to towns and cities for employment and education opportunities and Gaeltacht communities like similar communities have been hit hard by these measures. This has been the case for decades.

Given the impact that this has not only on rural communities but on the Irish language, one would have thought that the Government would intervene to provide some employment and a future for young people but, unfortunately, the opposite is the case. Instead, young people have been hit with cuts to jobseekers' allowance payments and pushed into so-called labour activation schemes, such as JobBridge, Gateway and so on. In Gaeltacht communities, organisations in receipt of State funding such as Foras na Gaeilge and Údarás na Gaeltachta have been hit with severe cuts.

Budget cuts show that the establishment parties are hypocritical on the issue of the Irish language. They speak of the respect they have for it. They speak about how vital it is for the culture of the country. There is no shortage of that talk but at the same time, the same politicians make savage cuts to the budget of Irish language organisations and projects relating to the language. Foras na Gaeilge funds Irish language organisations and projects throughout the country. It has seen its budget cut from more than €20 million in 2017 to just over €15 million in 2015. When inflation is taken into account that is a 39% cut since 2001. This means there is a de factoembargo on new and existing projects.The capital budget of Údarás na Gaeltachta has been cut from €22 million in 2007 to an incredible €6 million in 2013, a 73% cut in the budget when employment is falling in Gaeltacht communities while at the same time the budgets for the IDA and Enterprise Ireland were increased in that period.

Why is it that the Fine Gael-Labour Party and Fianna Fáil-Green Party Governments implemented this policy of cutting funds for the development of employment in Gaeltacht communities when expanding the funding outside the Gaeltacht? It is no wonder that those communities have formed the view that they are being consciously neglected by the establishment parties.

Conradh na Gaeilge with the support of 77 organisations has published a very important document, Investment in the Irish Language and in the Gaeltacht from 2016 onwards, which outlines well researched proposals for increases in funding. It is seeking an additional €18 million in funding for Údarás na Gaeltachta and Foras na Gaeilge which would result in an estimated 1,175 new jobs, €5 million less than the 2008 funding. The Anti-Austerity Alliance fully supports that demand. Not only should the budget cuts be reversed in their entirety but we should fight to expand the funding greatly. Conradh na Gaeilge outlines that even a partial reversal of the cuts could mean an expansion in Irish language community schemes where language plans in the Gaeltacht could be implemented, local groups all over the State can work on expanding the use and knowledge of the language where Irish speaking families would get the support they need in using the language and where Gaeltacht schools would get language assistance.

There have been tremendous protests on the right to use the Irish language. The Dearg le Fearg protest in 2014, in which I participated, had 10,000 people on the streets in Dublin. The cuts in the public sector in recent years have dramatically reduced the number of civil and public servants and impacted on the talent pool of our public sector workers. Many of those now retiring or taking early retirement are the staff who have the language skills to deal with the public through Irish. Answers we received from Ministers show that on average 4.5% of staff have sufficient Irish to deal with people. Some Departments have very low figures, such as the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, with 0.8%, and the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation with 0.5%. Many people who wish to engage with the State, through Irish, have the continual problem of being able to get forms in Irish or speak to people in the language they want to speak in, even when they call the designated Irish language telephone line. Irish speakers say they face a constant battle to conduct simple interactions with the State, such as getting a passport form. There is widespread support for the availability of public services through Irish for those who want them as illustrated in a number of public opinion polls.

The programme for Government generally outlines that it supports extra funding for the language. However, there are no commitments in the programme for Government about what level of funding will be advanced. There is a need for an active campaign by Gaeltacht communities and Irish language speakers to secure the funding they need and to secure their language rights. Capitalism is a system which ravages linguistic diversity all over the planet. The rule of profit is what comes first and the language rights of minorities come second. To secure rights we must fight for them and take on the wider agenda of cutting public services, cutting employment and cutting services to communities, such as our Gaeltacht communities and Irish speaking community.

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