Published on 

Minister of State Kyne welcomes the provision of an additional €1.5m for the Irish language, the Gaeltacht and the Islands in 2019

Seán Kyne T.D, Government Chief Whip and Minister of State for Irish Language, the Gaeltacht and the Islands, has welcomed the announcement that an additional €1.5m will be made available in the Revised Estimates to his Department for the Irish language, the Gaeltacht and Islands in 2019.
This means that a total fund of €55.772m will be available to the Department for this sector in 2019. This equates to a 15% increase on the provision made in the 2018 Budget. In addition to this allocation, a sum of €13.323m will be made available to the An Foras Teanga in 2019, giving a total of €69.095m available to the sector.
The additional funding has been approved for the following areas:

  • Additional funding of €0.75m for the Department's (current) Community and Language Support Programme under which assistance is given to a wide range of language-based projects in the Gaeltacht, including in the areas of youth and education:
  • An additional allocation of €0.5m in capital funding to Údarás na Gaeltachta in 2019. This announcement means that An tÚdarás will have a total of €9m in core capital funding in 2019.In addition to this, Minister of State Kyne has decided to carry forward a sum of €0.7m unspent by the Department in 2018 and add it to An tÚdarás' capital budget. This means that the Department will provide An tÚdarás with a total capital budget of €9.7m to be spent on employment projects in 2019.
  • An additional allocation of €0.25m for the Department's Irish Language Support Schemes to be spent with the goal of increasing the use of Irish amongst the public outside of the Gaeltacht.

The Minister of State said: "As a result of this additional funding of €1.5m over and above the amount that was announced on Budget Day for the Irish language, the Gaeltacht and the Islands, my Department, working with other stakeholders, is now in a position to do even more for the benefit of the Irish language, the Gaeltacht and the Islands. As Minister of State for Irish Language, the Gaeltacht and the Islands, I am very happy with this substantial increase. It once again shows the Government's commitment to supporting the Action Plan 2018-2022 for the Irish language which the Government published during the summer. Laid out in that plan is the work that will be done between now and 2022 for the Irish language and the Gaeltacht."
“I would like to thank An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar TD, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe TD and my Departmental colleague, Minister Josepha Madigan, for their work in securing this additional funding, which demonstrates their commitment to the Irish language, the Gaeltacht and the Islands.”
When the €2.8m in funding allocated recently to An tÚdarás under the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund, as well as the €2m in funding for Páirc na Mara in Cill Chiaráin allocated to An tÚdarás under the Regional Enterprise Development Fund, is included (see below), it results in capital funding of €14.5m being available to the organisation in 2019. It has previously been recognised that €12m should be made available to An tÚdarás for capital projects.


Note for the Editor

The Rural Regeneration and Development Fund

It was announced on the 23rd of November that capital funding of €2.8m will be made available for Údarás na Gaeltachta projects in the Gaeltacht regions of Donegal, Mayo and Galway. The allocation was made under the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund for three of Údarás na Gaeltachta's successful projects, namely:

  • · €1.5m to develop the undeveloped top floor of gteic @Gaoth Dobhair in Gweedore Business Park and to provide 1,725 sq.m of new work/office space; 
  • · €548k to develop gteic @An Spidéal's Innovation Centre and Digital Hub in Connemara;
  • · €795k to develop 8 Innovation Centres/Digital Hubs/Centres of Excellence in the Mayo Gaeltacht, including Béal an Mhuirthead, An Eachléim, Gaoth Sáille , Acail and Tuar Mhic Éadaigh.


Regional Enterprise Development Fund

It was announced on the 3rd of December that capital funding of €2m would be made available to MICD Páirc na Mara, a joint venture between Údarás na Gaeltachta, NUI Galway and Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) to develop an innovation and marine development centre at Páirc na Mara in Cill Chiaráin, Co. Galway.

Údarás na Gaeltachta is working in partnership with NUI Galway and GMIT to develop 1,800 square metres of enterprise and hatchery space for marine and research ventures. Training, specific training and business supports will be provided from the centre which aims to support the creation of 200 jobs at Páirc na Mara.