Minister Calleary welcomes approval of 2025 funding for Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster-Scots Agency

• North South Ministerial Council meeting in Armagh chaired by Minister Calleary
• agreed 2025 funding levels for Foras na Gaeilge will enable the organisation to reverse cuts it announced earlier this year
• funding also confirmed for Ulster-Scots Agency community programme
• commitment to review a range of governance and procedural matters within the agencies, including the future treatment of pension costs
• board members appointed to Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster-Scots Agency

The Minister for Community and Rural Development and the Gaeltacht, Dara Calleary, today chaired the twenty-ninth Sectoral meeting of the North South Ministerial Council (NSMC) Language Body. The meeting, held in Armagh, was attended by Gordon Lyons MLA, Minister for Communities, and Aisling Reilly MLA, Junior Minister at the Executive Office, along with representatives of the two NSMC Language Body agencies, Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster Scots Agency.

The meeting of the NSMC Language Body approved the 2025 Business Plans, which enables agreed 2025 funding for both Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster-Scots Agency to be provided. The agreed funding levels will allow Foras na Gaeilge to reverse cuts it announced earlier this year, while also supporting the Ulster-Scots Agency community programme. It was also noted that discussions have begun regarding the next planning period for 2026-2028 and that this will involve reviewing a range of governance and procedural matters, including the treatment of pensions costs within the agencies.

Speaking after the meeting, Minister Calleary said:

The Council meeting today also approved the appointments of new board members to the agencies of the NSMC Language Body, including 10 members nominated by the Irish Government, comprising six members to the board of Foras na Gaeilge and four to the Ulster-Scots Agency.

Speaking about these appointments today, Minister Dara Calleary welcomed their appointment:

It is expected that the next meeting of the NSMC Language Body will be held in autumn 2025.

What the NSMC Language Body is

The Language Body, An Foras Teanga, is one of six implementation bodies established under the Belfast / Good Friday Agreement 1998. It operates on an all-island basis under the overall policy direction of the North South Ministerial Council, with clear accountability lines back to the Council and to the Oireachtas and the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The Language Body is composed of two separate and largely autonomous agencies: Foras na Gaeilge and Tha Boord O Ulstèr-Scotch (the Ulster-Scots Agency).

What Foras is

Foras na Gaeilge

Foras na Gaeilge has the objective of promoting the Irish Language on an all-island basis, including roles in relation to education, dictionaries, terminology and publishing. It has its main office in Dublin and has subsidiary offices in Belfast city centre, Gaoth Dobhair, Co. Donegal and Ráth Chairn, Co. Meath.

What Ulster Scots Agency is

The Ulster-Scots Agency is responsible for the promotion of greater awareness and the use of Ullans and of Ulster-Scots cultural issues, both within Northern Ireland and throughout the island. The Agency has its main office in Belfast and has a subsidiary office in Raphoe, Co. Donegal.

Board member appointments

The Board of Foras na Gaeilge comprises 16 members, 8 nominated by the Government of Ireland and 8 nominated by the Northern Ireland Executive.

The Board of the Ulster-Scots Agency comprises 8 members, 4 nominated by the Government of Ireland and 4 nominated by the Northern Ireland Executive.

Foras na Gaeilge board member biographies

An tOllamh Regina Uí Chollatáin (Cathaoirleach)

Regina Uí Collatáin is a native of Letterkenny, Donegal. She is the Chief Officer/Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, University College Dublin (UCD). She is the Senior Professor of Modern Irish and the Director of the Academic Series for UCD Ad Astra Academy. Her main areas of research and publishing are Irish language journalism and print culture. She was a member of the original Board of TG4 (2007-12) and was the Chairperson of the Irish Newspaper and Periodicals History Forum (2016-19). She is the President of the Global Irish Diaspora Congress which she founded in 2017.

Liam Rushe

Liam Rushe is an accountant with PWC who was Chairman of Foras na Gaeilge's Audit and Risk Committee during his previous time on the board. He is a broadcaster and commentator on Sport TG4. He is a former member of the Dublin senior hurling team and an All-Star Award.

Dáithí Mac Cárthaigh, BA., M.A., LL.B

He is a barrister, with an emphasis on language rights issues in his work. As King's Inns Legal and Irish Language Co-ordinator since 2010, he administers higher diploma courses for graduates who wish to pursue careers with the European Union as lawyer-linguists and legal translators with Irish as well as courses in legal practice through Irish. He was involved in the massive campaign to achieve the status for the Irish language as an official and working language of the European Union. He was President of Conradh na Gaeilge between 2005 and 2008. A few years ago, he published a groundbreaking textbook ‘An Ghaeilge sa Dlí’ on the status of the Irish language in Ireland and the EU, currently and historically, which proposes reforms for improvement based on international best practice.

Dr Neasa Ní Chiaráin

Dr. Ní Chiaráin is the Ussher Adjunct Professor, School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences, Trinity College Dublin. She is working on the development of speech and language technology for the Irish language, in particular on synthetic voices and speech recognition systems for Irish as part of the ABAIR initiative. Her research focuses on exploring the application of speech and language technology in the context of Computer-Aided Language Learning (CALL), particularly in relation to the teaching/learning of Irish.

Ola Majekodunmi

Ola was born in Lagos, Nigeria and raised in Dublin. She attended Gaelscoil Lios na nÓg and Coláiste Íosagáin. She is a broadcaster, writer, creative producer and Irish Language Project Coordinator with Fighting Words. She started broadcasting with Raidió na Life in 2014. She has written articles for the Irish Times, journal.ie, RTÉ.ie, NÓS.ie and others, and has worked with RTÉ, TG4 and BBC. She is a poet and one of her poems has been published in the book 'Cnámh & Smior' as well as 'Meascra ón Aer' which was broadcast on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta. In 2018 she was the director/producer of the critically acclaimed short film "What does Irishness Look Like?" She is a former co-founder of 'Beyond Representation', which celebrates women of colour in Ireland in media, arts and business. She holds a BA in English, Media and Cultural Studies, as well as an MA in Broadcast Production from IADT/ National Film School. She has been nominated for "Young Star of the Year 2019" at the Communications Awards and has been nominated twice – in 2018 and 2019 – for the National Student Media Award in the category "Journalism through Irish".

Freda Nic Giolla Chatháin

Freda was born and raised outside Athlone, Co. Westmeath. She holds a BA in Modern Irish and Music from University College Cork, a Postgraduate Diploma in Arts Administration from Galway University and an MA in Translation Studies from Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge. Freda has been the Youth Arts Development Officer with Ealaín na Gaeltachta since 2023, having previously worked in various roles with a number of Irish language organisations, and was Chief Executive Officer of Gnó Mhaigh Eo. Freda is a musician who has performed all over the world, has won the All-Ireland Championship on the harp and has worked over the years on the committees of various festivals including Westport Arts Festival and Achill Harp Festival.

Ulster-Scots Agency board member biographies

Lavinia Tilson (Vice Chairperson)

Originally from Granard, Co. Longford, she has lived on a dairy farm in County Cavan for the last 30 years. She attended Granard Vocational School and Moibhí College, Rathmines Co Dublin before graduating from Trinity College Dublin in 1992 with a B. Ed. Degree. She began her teaching career in Raphoe, Co. Donegal before continuing as a teaching principal of a primary school in Ballyconnell Co. Cavan, a position she held until she retired in 2024. She has been actively involved in many projects/committees over the years, from drama production, Youth Theatres, Irish Wheelchair Association, Diocesan Board of Education, Youth Development Services, Tourette Alliance and the Léargas Cross-Border Initiative. She is one of the founding members of the Be Buddies not Bullies charity, holds voluntary art and craft workshops and is also a board member on the Cavan/Monaghan Youthreach Board of Management. Lavinia has a keen interest in the Irish language, history, preserving tradition/culture and promoting good cross-community communication.

Karyn Devenney

Karyn was born into a relatively large family in Laggan Valley in East Donegal, where she was surrounded by the traditions and language of the Ulster Scots community daily. Her father was a major influence on her throughout her life and his passion for his community encouraged her to gain a better understanding of her background. She developed a love for the Irish language early in life and attended Coláiste Mhoibhí in Rathmines to complete her Leaving Certificate through Irish. She is currently deputy principal in a three-teacher Church of Ireland Primary School in Manorcunningham, Co. Donegal, and has a wide range of interests including music, poetry and travel.

Leslie McKeague

Leslie McKeague is a retired building contractor and lives in Bailieborough, Co. Cavan. He has been involved in Ulster-Scots projects in Cavan and Monaghan for many years. At present he is a committee member of the Presbyterian Historical Society and the Ulster History Circle. Leslie is also a former chairman of Cumann Seanchais Bhreifne, Bailieborough Historical Society, Bailieborough Model School and a former board member of Bailieborough Development Association. He has published several local history books as well as editing Spark magazine and has contributed historical essays to other publications.

Alan Millar

Alan Millar is a journalist, writer and poet from the Laggan Valley, East Donegal, who now lives in Ballymoney, Co Antrim. He attended the Royal & Prior Comprehensive School, Raphoe and graduated from Trinity College, Dublin. He has a particular interest in the Ulster-Scots language and has twice won awards in the Linen Hall Library Ulster-Scots Writing Competition. He is the only Irish person to have won the Scots Language Society’s Hugh MacDiarmid Tassie. He is a regular contributor to Kintra, the Ulster-Scots programme on BBC Radio Ulster. His first collection of poetry, Echas frae the Big Swilly Swally, was published in 2023. His second, Frae Erris tae Wrath, assisted by ACNI, is due out presently. He is currently undertaking a PhD thesis at Ulster University, on the Northern Star (newspaper of the Society of United Irishmen).