Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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63. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if Foras na Gaeilge, which operates on a North-South funding mechanism, will be impacted by the recent uncertainty of the Northern Executive; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10373/22]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Foras na Gaeilge is one of the agencies of the North South Language Body (NSLB), the other being the Ulster-Scots Agency.

The NSLB's existing agreed baseline budget in respect of 2022 is based on the full uplift that had been agreed by the body's sponsor-Departments in both jurisdictions for the year 2021. This equates to a total of €12,387,239in 2022.

In addition to the existing agreed baseline budget allocation, further funding of €0.7m has been allocated by my Department to the NSLB for the full 2022 calendar year. However, as the financial year in Northern Ireland runs from April to March, officials of my Department are currently engaging with their counterparts in the Department for Communities in order to agree the total increase in the body's budget for 2022. While this approval process is at an advanced stage at official level, a decision on a response to the southern Government's €0.7m offer is not expected until the Norther Ireland Executive is re-established.