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€742,438 sanctioned by Minister of State, Dinny McGinley T.D., for the Irish-Language Assistants Scheme in 2013/14.

Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dinny McGinley T.D., today announced that he has sanctioned a grant of €742,438 for Muintearas and Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne for the 2013/2014 school year to run the Irish-Language Assistants Scheme.

"This is another significant step in the implementation of the Family Language Support Programme," according to the Minister of State. “When I launched that Programme in April 2012, I referred to the importance of an amended approach to the practical support of Gaeltacht families who are raising their children through Irish or who wish to do so. The grant announced today will enable the two organisations that administer the Irish-Language Assistants Scheme to continue to actively support the preservation and strengthening of the Irish language in the Gaeltacht."

The Minister of State said that the Department has expanded this scheme in recent years. "The assistants were initially focussing on those who had no Irish, but they are now also helping children who already have the language to enrich it,” said Minister McGinley. "Also, the scheme assists with a language habit among pupils outside of the classroom so that Irish is in use as the normal language of communication in the school yard."