Government report reveals progress of 2018-2022 Action Plan to promote the Irish language

Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD and Minister of State for Sport and the Gaeltacht and Government Chief-Whip, Jack Chambers TD, today launched the first annual report on the progress of the 2018–2022 Action Plan for Irish for the period July 2018 to June 2019 on behalf of the government.

The publication of this report – which was submitted to Government last Tuesday – aligns with the commitment made when the Action Plan was launched in June 2018 for the annual publication of such a report, in the interests of transparency and accountability. While it had been the intention to publish the report at the beginning of this year, its publication had to be deferred due primarily to the pandemic.

It provides an insight into what has been achieved by the c. 60 stakeholders involved with the implementation of the action plan and the overall 20-Year Strategy, to attend to the c. 180 actions contained over the period from July 2018 to June 2019.

Among the achievements made in the reporting period:

significant strides were made by the Department of Education and Skills in implementing the Policy on Gaeltacht Education 2017-2022
Údarás na Gaeltachta opened four digital hubs in Béal an Mhuirthead in County Mayo, in Gaoth Dobhair, in An Cheathrú Rua in County Galway, along with Mol Teic in conjunction with other agencies in Daingean Uí Chúis in County Kerry
9 Language Planning Officers and 3 Assistant Language Planning Officers were appointed during the period to implement Language Plans in the Language Planning Areas
over 40,000 online users are learning Irish in over 130 countries on the Massive Open Online Course ‘Fáilte ar Líne’
the Internship Scheme in European Union institutions has been expanded and opportunities are now being provided for graduates to acquire work placements in the fields of translation and proof-reading
the English and Irish versions of the Rules of the Superior Courts were digitised and aligned and a valuable legal terminology resource has been made available at www.gaois.ie. The project was delivered by the (then) Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, and the Department of Justice and Equality
the list of public bodies subject to the Official Languages Act was updated, which had not previously been done since the last Regulations came into effect in 2006. The Regulations have since entered the Statute Book and will be updated every two years from now on

Further details are provided in the notes for editors below.

Regarding the Official Languages Bill (Amendment), the Bill was published in December 2019 and was discussed the second stage in Dáil Éireann yesterday. The government has pledged that the Bill will be stronger and will be enacted before year end.

Further information on the Action Plan (PG5) and the 20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language (S20) is available at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/policy-information/2ea63-20-year-strategy-for-the-irish-language.

Minister Martin said:

"It is clear from the report published today, in accordance with the government’s decision, that significant progress is being made in implementing the Plan, and accordingly in implementing the 20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language which is the State’s policy on the Irish language and the Gaeltacht. It is a source of satisfaction and hope that such progress has been made by the 60-plus stakeholders responsible for implementing the plan – who include government departments and State agencies, along with Irish language and Gaeltacht organisations. As a result of this work, the implementation of the 20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language has been accelerated and to the overall ultimate benefit of the Irish language and Gaeltacht. Furthermore, the report marks out areas for further action. At the heart of this is the spirit of the meitheal, and due to the publication of this report, a significant step forward has been taken to ensure that an accountable approach is in place in future to safeguard progress as well as what has been planned by each relevant organisation in order to implement the Action Plan."

Minister of State Chambers said:

"I welcome this report. Amongst the most significant achievements made during the period of the report, the implementation of the language planning process in the Gaeltacht Language Planning Areas, Gaeltacht Service Towns and Irish Language Networks was accelerated. As a result of the partnership and shared ownership involved, I am pleased, as Minister of State, that significant progress is evident. It is recognised in the Plan that the actions set out are a baseline and that other ways are continuously being looked at to further add to what has been set out in the Plan in the period ahead as further opportunities and resources arise."

It is intended that the second report on progress will be published early in 2021 and will cover the period from July 2019 to December 2020.

ENDS

Notes

The executive summary provides an insight into the implementation of the various actions as they relate to the nine areas for action set out in the Strategy itself, namely:

Education
The Gaeltacht
Family Transmission of the Language – Early Intervention
Administration, Services and Community
Media and Technology
Dictionaries
Legislation and Status
Economic Life
Cross-Cutting Initiatives

Of the 185 actions in the Plan, 31 were to be implemented in 2018/2019. The report provides an insight into the current state of these actions and other actions at the end of June 2019, and a general snapshot of the progress made on each individual area for action follows below.

The report can be downloaded from here: https://www.gov.ie/en/policy-information/1418a-action-plan-2018-2022/

Area for Action 1 – Education

significant strides were made by the Department of Education and Skills in progressing the Policy on Gaeltacht Education, with 80% of primary schools and 100% of post-primary schools in language planning areas participating in the Gaeltacht Schools Recognition Scheme
Coláiste Naomh Eoin on Inis Meáin was granted independent status and the situation of other satellite schools continued to be considered
a three year e-hub pilot project was in progress, which aimed to enhance Gaeltacht post-primary students’ access to a broader range of subjects through Irish

Area for Action 2 – The Gaeltacht

Language Plans were operational in 10 of the 14 Language Planning Areas that had a plan approved
9 Language Planning Officers and 3 Assistant Language Planning Officers had been appointed during the period of the report
funding of up to €3.6m for a 3-year period was approved for the Language Assistants Scheme. The extra investment will benefit Gaeltacht schools participating in the Gaeltacht Schools Recognition Scheme and enable them to have language assistants for an extra 6 weeks during the school year

Area for Action 3: Family Transmission of the Language – Early Intervention

Funding for two Irish language early year’s posts was been secured within the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA).

Area for Action 4 – Administration, Services and Community

Many of the key targets in this area are dependent on the enactment of the Official Languages (Amendment) Bill 2019. This Bill was published in December 2019 and is included in the new Programme for Government for enactment before end 2020.

Area for Action 5 – Media and Technology

Significant resources have been invested in the development of a broad range of technology and programmes to assist in the objectives set out in the Action Plan. Highlights include:

over 40,000 online users are learning Irish in over 130 countries on the Massive Open Online Course ‘Fáilte ar Líne’
the second Tech Féile for second-level students taking place in Galway
national roll-out of the Clár Techspace programme for secondary schools & youth clubs

Area for Action 6 – Dictionaries

work continued on ‘Foclóir Stairiúil na Gaeilge’, an initiative of the Royal Irish Academy which is funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and which is one of the most ambitious linguistic research projects ever to be undertaken in Europe with over 70 million words already compiled, digitised and freely accessible
the Irish National Relay Station, established via the EU-funded European Language Resource Infrastructure (ELRI) project, under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme, has been launched. It aims to provide a central national online facility where translation data (bilingual files, terminologies, and so on) can be collected and shared among public institutions, thereby reducing national translation costs and supporting the development of translation technology

Area for Action 7 – Legislation and Status

drafting of the Official Languages (Public Bodies) Act, 2003 Regulations, 2019 These regulations update the list of public bodies subject to the Official Language Act by deleting references to public bodies that have ceased to exist or have become defunct since previous Regulations were made in 2006, and by bringing new public bodies within the scope of the Act. The Regulations have since entered the Statute Book and will be updated every two years from now on
the Internship Scheme in European Union institutions has been expanded and opportunities are now being provided for graduates to acquire work placements in the fields of translation and proof-reading

Area for Action 8 – Economic Life

Údarás na Gaeltachta client companies created 589 new full-time jobs in 2018. At year end, total employment in Údarás na Gaeltachta client companies stood at 8,207 of which 7,625 were full-time jobs and 582 were part-time jobs. There was a net gain of 122 jobs on the previous year. Counties Donegal and Galway saw the largest increases in employment
Údarás na Gaeltachta opened four digital hubs in Béal an Mhuirthead in County Mayo, in Gaoth Dobhair, in An Cheathrú Rua in County Galway, along with Mol Teic in conjunction with other agencies in Daingean Uí Chúis in County Kerry. These hubs provide office space with high-quality internet connection, along with business incubation and innovation facilities for businesses and remote workers

Monitoring

As regards the implementation of the amended approach set out in the Action Plan regarding monitoring, 4 meetings of the steering committee were held, chaired by the department during the reporting period.