John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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174. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will invest €2.5 million in Foras na Gaeilge to implement the first part of the investment plan for Gaeilge, which was agreed upon by 80 Gaeilge and Gaeltacht groups; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38930/16]

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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As I indicated in my response to Parliamentary Question No 372 on 22 November 2016 in regard to the 2017 Estimate provisions, almost €60m has been provided in the Estimates for the Irish language, Gaeltacht and Islands programme, including funding for An Foras Teanga. The budget for Foras na Gaeilge is subject to approval by the North South Ministerial Council, given its status as an agency of An Foras Teanga, which is a North South Implementation Body co-funded with the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland.

An indicative provision of €13.239m has been provided within my Department’s Vote for An Foras Teanga in 2017. In regard to funding for specific programmes of work, the dispersal of the budget will be an operational matter for Foras na Gaeilge within the framework of the NSMC-approved business plan and budget.

The investment plan submitted by Conradh na Gaeilge on behalf of the Irish language and Gaeltacht groups is very ambitious in seeking additional funding in the region of €5m in 2017 and €30m over the period 2018-2019. However, the Deputy can rest assured that I will continue, insofar as I can, to seek additional funding for the Irish language, within the overall budgetary resources available to the Government.

John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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175. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will renew the €1.4 million extra that was provided to Údarás na Gaeltachta in 2016 again in the budget 2017 in order that a total of €8 million would be allocated to the Údarás in 2017 to create new employment opportunities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38931/16]

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I refer the Deputy to previous replies given to Parliamentary Questions in relation to this matter. As I mentioned in these replies , an additional €1m in once-off capital funding was secured for an Údarás na Gaeltachta as part of the 2016 Revised Estimates. This has been retained for this year. This means the Budget 2017 baseline capital allocation for Údarás na Gaeltachta is €6.687m, which is €1m higher than the Budget 2016 allocation. Subsequent to that, I was delighted to announce that I succeeded in securing a further €2.4m in additional capital for an tÚdarás in 2016. I can assure the Deputy that I will continue to seek additional capital funding for an tÚdarás, within the available resources.