Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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There was a huge protest on Saturday in Dublin, called Cearta. The streets were dearg le fearg with 25,000 people coming out to demand action on funding for the Irish language and the Gaeltacht as well as action on education, the housing crisis and language rights. The turnout speaks to, on the one hand, a moment for the Irish language of a renewal or resurgence from below, with more and more parents wanting to send their children to Irish-medium schools, for example, and a complete failure of the Government to act on the other.

We have historically low levels of funding for the Gaeltacht, an absence of investment in the Irish language and a continuation of the crisis. The budget is two weeks away. Will action be taken in line with the wishes of all those on the protest and, I believe, the wishes of the majority of people in the country? Will the State and the Government recognise the historic inequality of baseline level funding for the Irish language and the Gaeltacht and the resulting negative impact that has had on the realisation of language rights for the public over many years? Will the funding gap be addressed?

The figures are striking. In 1956, only 0.15% of total State expenditure in the South was on the Irish language and the Gaeltacht. In the past number of years, this has fallen to just 0.1% for the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht. An Plean Fáis 2024-2029 has been agreed and endorsed by over 130 Irish language, Gaeltacht and other groups, to tackle the impact of unequal funding, but will the Government agree to fund it? Will it agree to provide €55 million in additional funding for the Irish language and the Gaeltacht, based on the proposals in An Plean Fáis? For example, Foras na Gaeilge, taking into account the effect of inflation, has 45% less funding than it had 20 years ago, while the number of community groups it is in turn funding has grown significantly over the same period. Does the Government agree that Foras na Gaeilge needs to be properly funded?

The housing crisis is right across the country, but it is particularly acute in Gaeltacht areas. The figures are striking. There are approximately 1,000 Airbnbs available in Gaeltacht areas and ten properties available to rent on daft.ieor whatever platform. This is a housing crisis, but it is also a language crisis as a result. There are only slightly more than 20,000 daily Irish speakers in the Gaeltacht. This is evidence of a 12.8% reduction in the number of such speakers between 2011 and 2022. If young people growing up in the Gaeltacht cannot find somewhere to live in the Gaeltacht, if they cannot find affordable, decent accommodation, they will not be able to stay there and that will cause a crisis for our Gaeltacht communities. Will the Government agree to provide Údarás na Gaeltachta with the power to purchase land or property for housing and social and cultural facilities? Will the Government agree to provide additional funding to Údarás na Gaeltachta to establish a housing department to facilitate a Gaeltacht population and housing strategy for each Gaeltacht language planning area?

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. No more than was the case in his area, busloads of people left Cavan-Monaghan at the weekend to support all things Irish language. It is heartening to hear. The Deputy is right. There is a groundswell of support for the Irish language and for seeing it adequately and properly funded as our national tongue. A day of protest, as the Deputy alluded to, was held last weekend by Irish language and Gaeltacht organisations from across the island, North and South, to highlight a range of issues, including funding for the language, language rights in the North, the implementation of the language legislation and access to public services and housing in the Gaeltacht.

Levels of funding for Foras na Gaeilge are a source of frustration for six main lead organisations in the Irish language sector as they receive core funding from Foras na Gaeilge. The Irish Government provides 75% of Foras na Gaeilge's approved budget annually with the remaining 25% coming from the Northern Ireland Executive in accordance with the funding ratio agreed with the North-South language body as established. Funding for the North-South language body, including Foras na Gaeilge is approved by the North-South Ministerial Council and requires matched funding to be agreed by the Northern Ireland Executive. The Irish Government cannot unilaterally amend the budgets or ratios of the North-South implementation bodies, but the Minister, Deputy Calleary, is acutely aware of the different economic and political circumstances that exist in the two jurisdictions. Officials from the sponsoring Departments in both jurisdictions are in weekly contact at this stage in an effort to resolve the issue.

Notwithstanding this, the Irish Government has provided significant additional funding to the Irish language and the Gaeltacht each year since 2020, with baseline funding doubling in the past five years. While Foras na Gaeilge has not been able to benefit directly from this, the Department has initiated a variety of schemes and programmes to ensure the funding reaches the organisations working on the ground with Irish language and Gaeltacht communities across the country. A significant amount of funding is being provided to some of the Irish language led organisations, which are also part-funded by Foras na Gaeilge. The Government has also approved over €2 million in additional funding for Foras na Gaeilge to specifically support the Irish language publishing sector under Clár na Leabhar Gaeilge, a programme that is not subject to co-funding arrangements and is entirely funded by the Irish Government. The Government has also approved significant funding for a series of initiatives being delivered by local organisations including Conradh na Gaeilge, Glór na nGael and Gael Linn, which receive core funding from Foras na Gaeilge, but are limited by the financial challenges with it. This funding is helping to alleviate some of the financial challenges faced by the leading organisations.

Initiatives currently funded by the Government include the Gaelbhratach scheme for schools. Glór na nGael is promoting the use of Irish in the home. We have the latter, the careers roadshow for schools and universities and clár céad míle fáilte, which introduces migrant communities to the language, funding to provide an Irish-medium early years sector and Oireachtas na Gaeilge, which gets significant funding to develop language-based arts and the Irish language Network for the Public Service.

I had the pleasure of visiting a little national school in Munterconnaught in my county. The principal, Mr. Vincent Mulvey, and his team have done incredible work, in particular on the programme where pupils are encouraged to use the Irish language. It is not a Gaelscoil, but the idea is to introduce their native tongue for simple everyday use, whether it is to go to the toilet, do their activities or whatever. Those kinds of schemes are having a real-life impact.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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I dealt with funding and housing to some degree in the introduction, so I might now deal with education and language rights, which are the other two features of the protest and the demands of the movement. The striking thing in education is the mismatch between parents' aspirations and wishes and the reality of school availability. Almost one in four parents say that if they had the option in their local community of sending their children to an Irish-medium school, they would do so. The previous Government pledged to work towards doubling the number of pupils attending Irish-medium education, but the numbers actually fell by 3%. More parents than ever are saying they would like to send their children to Irish-medium education, and the numbers are falling. Only 6% of pupils receive education through Irish. This in contrast to Wales. The more I learn about the struggle for the Irish language today, the more I see that Wales is a consistent example of how things should be done. In Wales, currently 23% of children go to school through Welsh and there is a plan that 40% will by 2050. It is a clear, ambitious and measurable goal. What we need from the Government is a similar target, to have an ambitious target - for example 20% over a period of 20 years - and then provide for that with funding and legislation. Similarly, there are 50,000 children in secondary school who are exempt from learning Irish and there is no plan whatsoever to address that.

We have a national plan for Irish language public services, which was published in 2024, but we have no plan for its implementation. When will the action plan to implement that be published? Will it include such things as the Common European Framework of Reference, CEFR, being implemented in the education system, Irish language courses aligned with the CEFR, increasing the number of third level courses through Irish from less than 1% to 5%, the establishment of a scheme to provide Irish language courses aligned with that and increasing the provision of education, which I spoke about?

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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As I said, I thank Deputy Murphy for raising this. It is really important that we discuss the funding and vision for our national tongue here in our Parliament. Up to now, it has really been a groundswell of support. Some counties are doing fantastic while others do not have the same opportunities. For example, in County Monaghan, for example, there are four national schools and one secondary school. I do not think I would be wrong in saying those national schools have been championed for years by people like Brendan O’Duffy. A new Gaelscoil will open in Castleblaney in the coming weeks. That is how it should be so that in all our towns, all parents have the option of having their children go through school with Irish as their principal language and having their primary education in that. I wholeheartedly agree with that. Then coming to my county, County Cavan, it has only one primary school and we do not have that secondary school. Again, there are people like Pádraig Ó Cuinneagáin have done enormous work in championing that from the ground up. We have, of course, a responsibility as a government to make sure that the people who are so passionate about it are facilitated and enabled whether it is primary schools, Gaeltacht areas in the local area and having public services through their local authorities. Having all that in place is incredibly important. The protest we saw at the weekend demonstrates to me how passionately people feel about it. It was heartening to see that.

As I pointed out earlier, the Government in this jurisdiction cannot unilaterally amend the budgets or the funding ratios of the North-South implementation bodies. There are obviously issues as regards the funding arrangements for Foras na Gaelige. The Minister, Deputy Calleary, is acutely aware of these issues. In light of this he has requested that his officials keep in regular contact with their counterparts in the Department for communities in an effort to resolve the matter. Government investment in the Irish language and the Gaeltacht has seen major increases over the last five years with the baseline funding doubling since 2020. I am sure the Deputy and I are on the same page in saying that we need more for the organisations on the ground. I welcome the Gaelbhratach scheme where schools which are not Gaelscoils have every opportunity to nurture our native tongue in everyday scenarios in their classrooms and we want to see more of that.

While Foras na Gaelige has not been able to benefit directly from the funding I alluded to, the Government has initiated various schemes and programmes to ensure the funding reaches the organisations working on the ground with the Irish language and Gaeltacht communities across the country. The Minister has serious ambitions for his Department. He is a Gaelgeoir himself. Unfortunately, I only have a cúpla focail but I always make the effort where I can. It is great that the Minister is so proficient with the language. He is a great advocate for it too. He has serious ambition for the Department over the course of the programme for Government and he has the full support of the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and the coalition partners in that regard. I have no doubt that the Minister will be kicking down doors to ensure there is an increase in the allocation for the Gaeltacht and the Irish language in budget 2026.