Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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334. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht his plans to guarantee the future of the Gaeltacht; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53677/13]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that the Gaeltacht Act 2012 sets out the language planning process by which Gaeltacht communities, working in tandem with key stakeholders, including Údarás na Gaeltachta and my own Department, will be afforded the opportunity to be at the centre of shaping language development in the Gaeltacht into the future. The language planning process has as its core objective the strengthening of the language as a community and household language in the Gaeltacht. In order to progress the implementation of the language planning process on the ground, the following measures are nearing completion: Notices to designate the first 3 of the 26 Gaeltacht Language Planning Areas will be published very shortly, in line with section 7(3) of the Act. The language planning guidelines, which will explain the language planning process under the Act, are being finalised. Údarás na Gaeltachta is finalising a suitably robust and transparent system by which organisations will be selected to prepare and implement language plans in the Gaeltacht Language Planning Areas. The Comprehensive Linguistic Study of the Use of Irish in the Gaeltacht (2007) is being updated in order to establish the current baseline status of the language in the Gaeltacht. This work, which was commissioned by Údarás na Gaeltachta, is being undertaken by NIRSA (the National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis).

The Deputy will also be aware that my Department and Údarás na Gaeltachta operate a wide range of schemes in the Gaeltacht. It is envisaged that the implementation of the language planning process under the Gaeltacht Act, coupled with the continuing implementation of the various schemes, will further strengthen the Irish language in the Gaeltacht. The language planning process and the various schemes are, of course, closely aligned with the 20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language 2010-2030 , which is the overarching policy document for the promotion of Irish, both within the Gaeltacht and outside it. In this regard, a special allocation of €0.5 million has been provided to support the Strategy in the 2014 Estimates.