Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if consideration will be given to rolling out free or subsidised courses in Irish, in the form of lifelong, continuing and or adult education, which would encourage citizens to improve their command of, or reconnect with, the Irish language, particularly as such an incentive would help achieve the stated objective of the 20 year strategy for the Irish Language of increasing the number of people who speak Irish on a daily basis from 83,000 to 250,000. [42070/12]

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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The Government is committed to supporting the overall thrust of the 20 Year Strategy for the Irish Language 2010-2030, and to the delivery of the goals and targets proposed. As part of the Adult Literacy and Community Education Scheme (ALCES) and the Back to Education Initiative (BTEI), both funded by my Department, Vocational Education Committees (VECs) provide Irish language courses to adults free of charge. VECs decide on the nature, extent and location of courses provided, including Irish language courses, from within the grant allocated. My Department also provides an annual grant to Breacadh, an initiative which supports VECs in Gaeltacht areas providing literacy tuition to Irish speakers, by creating literacy materials and providing training to VEC staff.