Minister of State for the Gaeltacht and Sport Jack Chambers TD approves Language Plan for West Mayo and opens gteic during his visit to Mayo

gteic@Acaill officially open

Mayo Language Plan approved

Minister of State for the Gaeltacht and Sport Jack Chambers will tour North Mayo today. The visit will start out in the morning in Eachléim and end up in Achill in the evening.

During the day, he will visit a number of Irish language and Gaeltacht facilities and organisations operating in the area. These include Blacksod Lighthouse in Eachléim and Coláiste Uisce, Ionad Cuan Eilí.

The Minister of State will officially open gteic@Acaill during his visit. The gteic - the Digital Network of the Gaeltacht - is expanding throughout the Gaeltacht as Údarás na Gaeltachta develops innovation hubs to provide facilities and workspaces with high speed internet access for remote workers to return to the Gaeltacht.

This gteic was developed with significant funding provided by the RRDF.

Minister of State Chambers said:

“I am delighted to be here in Achill opening the gteic hub today. The digital hub is a great facility for the area. It will provide opportunities for local businesses and entrepreneurs and encourage people to think about returning to the area or setting up a business here. This type of development is very timely with the new possibilities that have arisen for remote work.”

As part of his visit to Achill, the Minister of State will announce that he is approving the West Mayo Language Plan under the language planning process. Comhlacht Forbartha Áitiúil Acla is the lead language planning organisation responsible for the preparation and implementation of the plan for the Area. They set up a separate committee: Coiste Gaeilge Acla to prepare the language plan.

Minister of State Chambers said:

“I would like to congratulate Comhlacht Forbartha Áitiúil Acla - the lead organisation of the Gaeltacht Language Planning Area, Coiste Gaeilge Acla and all those involved in compiling the language plan for West Mayo. As with all plans already approved, the West Mayo language plan will provide opportunities for the community of this area to be central to the additional effort required to ensure the safe and secure transmission of the Irish language to future generations.”

An annual budget of up to €100,000 will be provided to the lead organisation over a 7 year period to assist with the implementation of the plan.

Notes

Of the 26 Gaeltacht Language Planning Areas, 23 plans have been approved to date - the most recent being West Mayo.
To date, 4 Gaeltacht Service Towns have been approved under the process, Letterkenny, Daingean Uí Chúis, Galway City and An Clochán Liath.
3 Irish Language Networks have been approved under the process up until now – Ennis, Loughrea and Clondalkin.
The Department is currently considering three other plans - the Oileáin Árann language plan, the Cléire language plan, and a plan for the Tralee Gaeltacht Service Town.
19 Language Planning Officers and 4 Assistant Language Planning Officers are employed and are implementing plans to date.
In relation to the Gaeltacht Service Towns, the process of preparing plans is underway for the following towns: Dungarvan, Caherciveen, Castlebar and Cork City.
Údarás na Gaeltachta is responsible for assisting the West Mayo Language Planning Area to implement the language plan - as they are also, the other areas located in the Gaeltacht. Foras na Gaeilge is responsible for assisting with the implementation of language plans outside the Gaeltacht.