Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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21. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will review the funding allocation provided for the development and growth of the Irish language with specific reference to the fact that the number of Irish language summer camps has been reduced from 92 in 2015 to 59 in 2016, a drop of 35%; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37693/16]

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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Níl aon airgead ag grupaí Gaeilge. There have been reductions in the money provided to Conradh na Gaeilge, Foras na Gaeilge and other organisations that are providing valuable supports to community groups and groups such as naíonra and coláistí samhraidh. Níl aon seans acu an obair a dhéanamh.

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Ní aontaím nach bhfuil aon airgead acu. At the outset, I emphasise that almost €60 million has been provided in the 2017 Estimates for the Irish language and the Gaeltacht and islands programme, including funding for An Foras Teanga. This represents an increase of €2.3 million over the 2016 baseline provision.

I assume that the Deputy is referring to the annual summer camps scheme funded by Foras na Gaeilge. In that context, there are three general points I wish to bring to the attention of the House. First, Foras na Gaeilge, as an agency of An Foras Teanga - a North-South implementation body - is co-funded by my Department with the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland. Consequently, its budget is subject to approval by the North-South Ministerial Council, NSMC. Second, the indicative provision of €13.239 million in my Department's Vote for An Foras Teanga in 2017 is intended to fund both agencies of the body - Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster-Scots Agency - in addition to providing ring-fenced funding for Clár na Leabhar Gaeilge agus Colmcille. Third, in regard to funding for specific programmes of work, the dispersal of Foras na Gaeilge’s budget is primarily an operational matter for the agency within the framework of the NSMC approved business plan and budget.

With regard to the specific issue of summer camps, I understand from Foras na Gaeilge that funding was provided to 69 summer camps attended by 3,002 young people in 2016, but that if additional funding had been available, it would have been possible for it to provide funding for a further 45 applications which met the criteria of the scheme. From a wider perspective, the House will be interested to know that in addition to the summer camps funded by Foras na Gaeilge, my Department provided funding for 183 summer camps attended by 6,077 children in Gaeltacht areas and for 26,004 children attending the summer colleges scheme under Scéim na bhFoghlaimeoirí Gaeilge.

I am aware that good work is under way in regard to providing opportunities for young people to learn, to improve and to use the Irish language in a social and recreational context outside of the formal education setting. However, it is also clear that there is an even greater demand for participation in such schemes and that more could be done with the availability of additional resources. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and I met recently with Foras na Gaeilge regarding these and other associated matters, and I am committed to continuing to seek additional funding for the Irish language within the overall budgetary resources available to the Government.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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They are fine words but the programme for Government states that the Government will increase investment in the Irish language, yet Foras na Gaeilge has had to reduce the number of Irish language summer courses. The public agrees that additional support should be made available and that has been shown in a Millward Brown survey, in which 61% of people in 2016 agreed that the State should provide additional support for the Irish language. It is our heritage. Only 18% were against it. The majority of Teachta Dála also agreed that €18 million should be invested in the plan brought forward by 80 Irish language and Gaeltacht groups. However, the proposed funding for the Irish language is truly disappointing.

How can the Minister's Department claim to be fulfilling its responsibility for the implementation of the 20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language 2010-2030, which we all fought for, when, according to Conradh na Gaeilge, both the Foras na Gaeilge budget and the Údarás na Gaeltacht capital budget have been reduced by over 50% since 2008? Sin é an tslí. I also understand there is no new funding allocated for these budgets in 2017, while the operational budget for Seachtain na Gaeilge was reduced by 40%. We speak here gach bliain faoi cabhrú le Seachtain na Gaeilge, but there is no support for it. It cannot run on air. The Minister must do something in that area and give some tacit support.

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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First, there were substantial increases in Údarás na Gaeltachta's capital budget for 2016 compared with 2015, including €2.4 million in additional resources allocated this autumn. That will allow Údarás na Gaeltachta, instead of using its own resources in 2016, to divert that to 2017 to invest in a series of programmes for job creation and additional capital works. There has also been an additional €2.3 million overall increase in the baseline figure over the 2016 allocation for the Irish language. There is €13.239 million, which is an indicative figure, available for An Foras Teanga, to fund both Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster-Scots Agency. That is to be agreed at the North-South Ministerial Council in December. As I said, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and I met Foras na Gaeilge last week and we will continue to push for additional funding, in the Revised Estimates and elsewhere.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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Words are no use.

There is a huge disparity between what the Minister of State is saying and what I am being told. If this is what the Minister and the Department understand to be a robust commitment to the 20-year strategy, then serious questions have to be answered, and níl aon fhreagra anseo. When the budget was being delivered, the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform spoke about the kind of Ireland we want to create. Surely that ought to include a more passionate and resourced commitment to the growth and study of our Irish language. Without our teanga we will not have a nation. I strongly believe that. We need a commitment that the cuts to funding allocations will be reversed and increased. The Minister of State can mention funding of €13 million here and €13 million there but that is not the reality on the ground. Níl pingin ar fáil do a lán grúpaí. If there is anything less than this, the Government will be clearly demonstrating that when it comes to the Irish language lip-service continues to be the order of the day. Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil Gaeilge flúirseach na Gaillimhe ag an Aire Stáit. The reality is that the groups are not getting funding. The Minister of State did not answer my question concerning the 40% cut for Seachtain na Gaeilge. Everybody bought into that initiative, both grupaí na Gaeilge agus grupaí an Bhéarla. A lán communities used that funding for Seachtain na Gaeilge projects but they have been drastically cut. We have to get people interested.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Tá an t-am caite. Caithfimid dul ar aghaidh.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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Go raibh maith agat.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Tá noiméad amháin ag an Aire Stáit le críochnú.

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I accept the Deputy's passion and interest in the Irish language and his commitment to the allocation of extra funding. I applaud that. I, as Minister of State, and the Government are committed to the 20-year strategy for the Irish language.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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Cá bhfuil an t-airgead?

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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There were increases in funding in recent years from €500,000 to €1 million to €1.25 million this year. There has been an increase of €250,000 in the current budget for Údarás na Gaeltachta and that will allow the comharchumainn on the islands and elsewhere within Gaeltacht areas to receive extra funding to implement the work they have to do on behalf of the straitéis and the pleananna teanga. The Department of Education and Skills, in conjunction with this Department, launched, for the first time ever, an education policy for the Gaeltacht, for which €1 million has been available for this year. There is also a commitment to allocate €4 million and €8 million over the next two budgetary cycles. That has been welcomed across the board. I am committed to increasing and finding extra resources-----

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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What about Seachtain na Gaeilge?

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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-----over the next number of years for all the bodies dealing with the Irish language.