Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. I agree with him. I went to school for 13 years and have lots of Irish in my head but actually having the confidence to speak it is different. That is why we need to support community organisations to actually reach out to people so that people can join these organisations and use whatever Irish they have, because if you do not use it, you lose it. In the months coming up to the budget, 138 community organisations from around the country came together to formulate and propose to Government an ambitious new investment plan for the Irish language. They want to address the long-standing issues with funding, particularly the lack of support for groups doing the work on the ground. The proposals look to reverse austerity-era cutbacks and fix a situation where Foras na Gaeilge and Údarás na Gaeltachta are in receipt of less funding from the State today than 20 years ago. That has to be addressed because I think there is an appetite in this country to revive the language. We need to support those on the ground in the communities, as well as in the schools, to do that. All funding would be welcome.

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