Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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29. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the reason the Government has chosen to reduce funding for Foras na Gaeilge, given its crucial role in promoting and sustaining the Irish language and culture, particularly at a time when engagement with Irish is growing through education, music, literature, and film; and whether he will commit to reversing these cuts and expanding State support for the Irish language, ensuring that it has a sustainable future beyond the classroom. [6032/25]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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Foras na Gaeilge is one of the agencies of the North South Language Body (NSLB), established under the British Irish Agreement Act 1999.

Budgets for North South Implementation Bodies, including the North South Language Body are approved by the North South Ministerial Council (NSMC) following agreement with the relevant sponsor Departments.

Foras na Gaeilge is co-funded on the basis of 75% by this Department and 25% by the Department of Communities in the north, the other Sponsor Department of the NSLB.

The Irish Government has provided an increased allocation for the North South Language Body in 2025. The Northern Ireland Executive has yet to confirm its budget for 2025 as their financial year commences in April.

Once the 2025 budget has been confirmed and agreed by the sponsor Departments north and south, it will be brought to the next meeting of the NSMC for approval.

In the meantime, Foras na Gaeilge continues to operate at the funding level approved by NSMC in 2024, which is €16.5m, of which €12,387,239 or 75% is paid by the Department.

Earlier this year, the Board of Foras na Gaeilge announced a series of funding cuts for 2025, which it believed necessary to meet rising costs this year but on the basis of the funding level from 2024 remaining unchanged.

It is important to note that the funding cuts announced by Foras na Gaeilge relate only to schemes which are jointly funded through the North South Language Body, and that there is no impact on other Irish language and Gaeltacht programmes and activities which are funded solely by the Irish Government.

In this context, it is worth noting that the overall level of funding for Irish language and Gaeltacht has more than doubled in the past decade, with the majority of this increase happening over the past 5 years.

While Foras na Gaeilge has not been able to benefit from this, the Department has initiated a variety of schemes and programmes to ensure the funding reaches the organisations working on the ground with Irish language and Gaeltacht communities across the country. A significant amount of this funding is being provided to some of the Irish language lead organisations, who are also part-funded by Foras na Gaeilge.