Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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378. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht her plans to engage with local authorities to increase the promotion of the Irish language; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21805/21]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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My Department funds organisations such as Gaillimh le Gaeilge, Gnó Mhaigh Eo and Gael Taca which are co-funded by the local authorities to promote the Irish language outside the Gaeltacht, to make it more visible and normalise it as part of everyday community life, with emphasis on encouraging the use of Irish in business.

The Department also engages with the Association of Irish Language Development Officers in the Public Service in order to provide the highest quality services through the medium of Irish in public bodies in which they operate, as set out in our Action Plan (2018-2022) for the 20 Year Strategy for the Irish Language 2010-2030.

Also, the Creative Ireland Programme is an all-of-government programme led by my Department which connects people, creativity and wellbeing.

Harnessing the creative potential of our people and communities is a cornerstone of the Creative Ireland Programme, and particularly through our Creative Communities initiative. In each of the 31 local authorities, the Creative Ireland Programme has established a Culture and Creativity Team which brings together local expertise in culture, arts, Irish language, heritage, libraries, enterprise and community engagement, to foster collaboration and spark new initiatives. A local Creative Ireland Coordinator has also been appointed for each local authority. With the help of creative, cultural and heritage organisations (including Irish language organisations), and community groups across the country, each local authority created a five-year Culture and Creativity Strategy 2018 – 2022, that has been published in English and Irish. These are locally-led and designed to enable people to work together to transform their communities, their lives and their environment through creativity. The corresponding projects which are programmed by the local authorities as part of the Creative Communities initiative encompass Irish language events.

In addition, and in close collaboration with the Gaeltacht Division of this department, the Creative Ireland Programme (through its Creative Youth Plan) supports Fighting Words to run creative writing workshops in Irish, when requested, throughout Ireland. An Irish language coordinator based in Conamara supports all such workshops in the Conamara Gaeltacht. The Creative Ireland Coordinators in local authorities have provided support to Fighting Words, when requested, to facilitate these workshops.

Also as part of the Creative Youth Plan, it is worth noting that the Creative Schools Programme and the Creative Clusters Programme are offered in the primary language of the schools involved, and the Creative Ireland Coordinators in relevant local authorities remain available to support identifying artists and creatives to work with the schools involved.