THE PROPOSAL to abolish Údarás na Gaeltachta in the Government’s 20-year strategy for the Irish language would have hugely damaging repercussions for the survival of Gaeltacht regions, a leading language activist has claimed.
Donncha Ó hÉallaithe, who conducts independent research into Irish use in the Gaeltacht areas, told an Oireachtas committee yesterday that it would be a grave mistake if the agency was subsumed into a new national Irish language agency called Údarás na Gaeilge.
Mr Ó hÉallaithe said that the present agency dealt with economic development in Gaeltacht regions, had created jobs and had created an enterprise culture.
“Turning it into a national language agency will mean that it will no longer be in a position to concentrate its efforts in the few remaining Irish-speaking areas that are left, but will have foisted on it the additional burden of promoting Irish around the country,” he said.