Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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520. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the steps his Department is taking to record and document the 'Cant' and 'Shelta' languages used by members of the Travelling community, and to preserve and protect the languages from extinction. [25584/25]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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In December 2015, Ireland ratified the UNESCO 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). Under this Convention, in 2019, Ireland officially launched its National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage. This inventory provides official State recognition to living cultural heritage practices in Ireland.

Following an application from Meath Travellers Workshop, with support The Irish Traveller Movement and Pavee Point, the Cant / Gammon language is recognised on Ireland’s National Inventory of ICH.

While the Department has responsibility for language policy as it relates to the Irish language, responsibility for Traveller and Roma policy is vested in the Department for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth who oversees the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy II.