Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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610. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the qualifying criteria for the allocation of a language assistant as part of the cúntóir teanga scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46961/17]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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In order to qualify for recognition under Scéim na gCúntóirí Teanga - which is administered on behalf of my Department by Muintearas Teo and Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne Teo and to which the Deputy refers, the school in question must be situated in a Gaeltacht Area and operate through the medium of Irish.

In order to further strengthen the scheme in the context of the implementation of the language planning process as set out under The Gaeltacht Act 2012 and the Policy on Gaeltacht Education 2017-2022, which is being spearheaded by the Department of Education and Skills, my Department intends to undertake a review of the scheme which will commence in the near future.

Among the issues which will be addressed as part of this review will be the qualifying criteria which should apply in the case of schools who are or who wish to participate in the scheme into the future.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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611. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the reason a school (details supplied) has not been accepted as part of the cúntóir teanga scheme despite participating in the Department of Education and Skills policy for Gaeltacht schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46962/17]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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In order to support Gaeltacht schools in providing additional language acquisition and enrichment opportunities in support of the development and strengthening of the language as the predominant community and household language in Gaeltacht areas, my Department recently sanctioned an allocation of €551,813 in respect of the school year 2017/18 to Muintearas Teo who are tasked with administering the scheme on its behalf in the Gaeltacht areas of Donegal, Mayo, Galway and Meath.

This allocation was made in order to facilitate the provision of the scheme to the same schools that participated in the scheme in 2016/17. Due to competing demands my Department was not in a position to accommodate any additional schools under the scheme - notwithstanding the validity of the case made in respect of these schools, including the school referred to by the Deputy. The only exception to this, insofar as it applies to the operational area of Muintearas was the inclusion, at the request of Muintearas, of SN na Trá Báine which replaced SN Coill an tSidheáin, which is now closed.

Having said that, it should be noted that in order to further strengthen the scheme in the context of the implementation of the language planning process as set out under The Gaeltacht Act 2012 and the Policy on Gaeltacht Education 2017-2022, which is being spearheaded by the Department of Education and Skills, my Department intends to undertake a review of the scheme which will commence in the near future. It is intended that this review will be undertaken by a suitably qualified team with the relevant experience and expertise and that the views and recommendations of key stakeholders will form part of the review.

The Deputy may be assured that careful consideration will be given to the findings of this review in due course, in the context of available resources and in order to ensure that the scheme aligns itself with the key objectives of both the language planning process and the Policy on Gaeltacht Education respectively.