merrion street

Government Chief Whip and Minister of State for the Irish language, the Gaeltacht and the Islands, Seán Kyne TD launched the #TrasnaNadTonnta campaign at Twitter Headquarters in Dublin today.
#TrasnaNadTonnta creates a cyber-Gaeltacht online and will take place this year from Monday, the 4th February, until Friday, the 8th February 2019.
Speaking at the launch today, Minister of State Kyne said:
“I look forward to seeing messages in Irish, from people all over the world, on social media this week while #TrasnaNadTonnta takes place.”
“Trasna na dTonnta represents the possibilities for using modern technology to spread our native language all over the world, and create a link with those who possess a love of the language, regardless of where in the world they reside. I am privileged that this pioneering initiative is being funded by my Department, from our support to the Ireland Canada University Foundation.”
“I understand that people in more than 80 countries took part in Trasna na dTonnta last year, when 10,663 tweets were sent with the hashtag, which proves that the Irish language is a living global language. It was brilliant seeing all the messages people sent from all over the world. It gives us a fantastic insight into the work taking place to promote the Irish language globally and I hope that the number of tweets will increase once again this year.”
“I would therefore like to invite you, to tweet in Irish using the hashtag #TrasnaNadTonnta as often as you can during the week.”

Note for Editors
Trasna na dTonnta is an initiative founded by the Ireland Canada University Foundation. The twitter account can be found on @Trasna19
The Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht provides funding to the Ireland Canada University Foundation through the ‘Third Level Education Overseas’ scheme.
Funding is provided under this scheme for the teaching of Irish in foreign universities. The objectives of the fund are to promote and foster goodwill for the Irish language outside Ireland and to provide a platform from which the Irish language can be accessed and showcased as an international language.
The fund is open to applications from third level institutions abroad wishing to provide Irish language courses as part of their academic programme. All applications for funding from 3rd level institutions located in the USA and Canada must be channelled through the Fulbright Commission (www.fulbright.ie) and the Ireland Canada University Foundation (www.icuf.ie) respectively.