Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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262. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she is considering plans to reverse the decline in and possibly expand Gaeltacht regions given the decline in the size of Gaeltacht regions in recent decades. [23146/21]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Gaeltacht boundaries have remained unchanged since the most recent Order in respect of same which was enacted in 1982.

The ongoing implementation of the Government's Action Plan for the Irish Language 2018-2022 and the overarching 20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language 2010-2030remains the focus of Government, in support of the Irish language and Gaeltacht Regions.

In line with the commitment made in 2018 to publish annually a progress report regarding the implementation of the 180 actions set out across the nine Areas of Action contained in the Action Plan, I hope to publish shortly on behalf of Government the second such annual report, following cabinet approval.

Notwithstanding the challenges posed by COVID-19 the report (covering mid 2019 to December 2020) will point to ongoing significant progress in relation to the actions set out in the Action Plan in support of the Gaeltacht regions and the Irish language.

Progress to date has being significantly underpinned through a range of initiatives and through incremental increases in exchequer-funding in respect of a wide range of actions, schemes and programmes, all of which are detailed in the aforementioned Action Plan which is available for download on gov.ie

In relation to the issue of Gaeltacht Boundaries, it should be noted that the key step-change at the heart of the language planning process is the concept of supporting Gaeltacht communities across each of the 26 Gaeltacht Language Planning Areas to develop and implement community-centred language plans with the ongoing support of both my Department and Údarás na Gaeltachta. Within a short period, all 26 areas will have advanced to implementation of plans with ongoing financial and technical support.

The process also provides for developing the language across up to 16 Gaeltacht Service Towns and, currently, 3 Irish Language Networks, thus broadening the thrust of the process to include non-Gaeltacht regions in the overall interests of further underpinning the language.