Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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661. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the action she is taking to support the Irish language; the initiatives she will enact to make the use of the Irish language more commonplace; the action she will take to further promote the use of the Irish language in the EU as Brexit approaches; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13213/17]

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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My Department is working in partnership with a broad range of organisations to support the Irish language and to support and encourage its use on a daily basis. This work incorporates a broad range of research, development and training in various sectors. Under my Department’s Irish Language Support Schemes, funding continues to be provided for Irish language courses in third-level institutions in Ireland and overseas and for terminology initiatives which support the status of Irish as an official and working language of the European Union. Funding is also provided for various organisations which promote the Irish language outside the Gaeltacht.

As technology advances and its use becomes more commonplace within society generally, it is expected that the use of Irish language technology will become more prevalent. To this end, my Department is continuing to support the provision of Irish language resources online and via the development of apps. In addition, funding is allocated to assist youth organisations and schools through the TechSpace as Gaeilge initiative to purchase digital media equipment. This new project was launched in 2015 and is aimed at young Irish language speakers interested in developing their digital media skills. TechSpace is a national network which helps young people to create digital and technological material as they engage in activities such as digital film, web design, mobile app development and robotics, among others. Techspace as Gaeilge was piloted in Connacht and it is currently being rolled out in the Munster region. It is proposed to roll out TechSpace as Gaeilge nationally, on phased basis over the coming years.

Also funded by my Department is the development by Fiontar, Dublin City University, of a database of EU terminology in the Irish language, an online database of place names and a joint project between the Department, UCD and DCU to digitise the Schools’ Collection of National Folklore Collection. Funding is also being provided to Trinity College Dublin for the development of the Irish language synthesiser project, abair.ie.

Funding in the region of €1m annually is provided through the Advanced Irish language Skills Initiative for a range of specialised third-level Irish language courses such as translation, interpretation, and law for the provision of suitably qualified persons to meet recruitment needs in the EU.

A total of €7.812m has been provided to my Department in 2017 for the promotion and maintenance of the Irish language in the Gaeltacht. This allocation consists of €1.422m in capital expenditure for the construction and refurbishment of language based facilities and the upgrade of summer colleges. The current funding allocation of €6.390m covers various language-centred programmes and schemes such as the Irish Language Summer Colleges, summer camps, language assistants in schools and other cultural activities directed primarily towards children and young people.

The work of Údarás na Gaeltachta is, of course, also vital in our efforts to maintain the Irish language as the community language of the Gaeltacht. An tÚdarás currently supports the creation of in the region of 500 Gaeltacht-based jobs annually and also funds community development structures, the Irish language arts and pre-school education in Gaeltacht areas.

Work is also ongoing in respect of the language planning process provided for in the Gaeltacht Act 2012. At present, 26 Gaeltacht Language Planning Areas have been recognised for the purposes of the Act.  Under the Act, Gaeltacht Service Towns are defined as those towns situated in or adjacent to Gaeltacht Language Planning Areas and which have a significant role in providing public services and recreational, social and commercial facilities for those areas. Late in 2016, notices were published under the Act in respect of Daingean Uí Chúis, Co. Kerry, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, and Galway City. This effectively starts the process to prepare and implement language plans for these Gaeltacht Service Towns. Foras na Gaeilge is responsible under the Act for supporting organisations with regard to the preparation and implementation of language plans in Irish Language Networks, those areas outside the Gaeltacht which have achieved a basic critical mass of community and State support for the Irish language. Foras na Gaeilge has selected Loughrea, Co. Galway, Ennis, Co. Clare, and Clondalkin, Dublin as Irish Language Networks and the process to prepare language plans in respect of these networks has now begun.

In addition, my Department provides co-funding, in co-operation with the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland, to Foras na Gaeilge to carry out its legislative mandate to promote the Irish language on an all-island basis. In that context, Foras na Gaeilge supports a wide range of initiatives which promote the use of Irish in everyday life. Foras supports the work of six lead organisations which focus on key strategic areas such as education, raising language awareness and creating opportunities to use the language, in addition to community and economic development.

The Deputy will be interested to learn that my Department recently held a Brexit consultation event with its stakeholders, which included Foras na Gaeilge, Údarás na Gaeltachta and Conradh na Gaeilge, for the purpose of gaining an insight into the difficulties these organisations potentially face as a result of Brexit. This exercise proved particularly fruitful, given the high level of engagement by all parties, and the insights gained by my Department will assist it in minimising the impact of Brexit on its stakeholders.

Further information about the work of the Department and organisations under its remit is available on its website at: www.ahrrga.gov.ie.