From Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
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The Minister of State for the Gaeltacht and Sport, Government Chief Whip Jack Chambers, has announced that his department will recognise short Irish language courses of at least 3 days as an exceptional measure to further assist the recovery of the Irish language college sector.
As a result, for this year only, Irish language courses of no shorter than 3 consecutive days will be recognised - which will mean that the department will be able to pay the Irish Language Learners Scheme grants to eligible Gaeltacht families who provide accommodation for students attending such courses.
Minister of State Chambers said:
“While the usual 3-week courses will remain an integral part of the system, the short courses of the type that will be approved in this particular case will provide an additional opportunity to attend an Irish language course in the Gaeltacht for post-primary students who missed out on that opportunity in the last 2 years due to COVID-19.
“This policy will also help with the recovery of the sector that has been closed for the past 2 years. It was a significant blow to all that colleges have not been able to function for some time due to the pandemic. As a result of this measure and what the department has done over the past 2 years to help the sector we are all looking forward to the gradual reopening of the colleges between now and the summer and seeing young people from all over the country returning to the summer colleges.”
The following press release sets out what the department has already done to help the resilience of the College system:
A daily grant of €11 per student is paid under the department's Scheme to c.700 eligible families who provide accommodation for the over 26,000 learners who attend the Irish language courses recognised throughout the Gaeltacht.