Gaeltacht language schools warn of fees rise

STUDENTS AT summer courses in Gaeltacht areas could face a €250 increase in fees, a group representing some Irish language schools has warned.

Mná tí na hÉireann is to gather in Na Forbacha, Co Galway, today to highlight concerns about a proposal in the McCarthy report to end Scéim na bhFoghlaimeoirí Gaeilge, a scheme by which the Government pays a grant to Gaeltacht families to keep students on summer courses.

The representative body of 47 Irish-language summer schools, Comhchoiste Náisiúnta na gColáistí Samhraidh (Concos), is organising the meeting.

Concos’s development officer, Caitlín Neachtain, said a delegation would meet Minister for the Gaeltacht Éamon Ó Cuív to discuss the situation.

Mr Ó Cuív said the Government stood by the work it had done for mná tí and the Irish language. The measures in the McCarthy report were just proposals but money was in short supply and cuts had to be made somewhere.