Government to ‘focus more’ on the provision of services to Irish speakers

A decision to place Irish language matters under the remit of two new Government committees will allow the 20 year strategy for the language to be implemented, it was claimed today.

The move follows a decision taken this week by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to terminate the Cabinet subcommittee on Arts, Irish and the Gaeltacht, which previously had responsibility for the area.

This was part of a wider move to reduce the number of subcommittees from 10 to five.

The committee, which was set up as part of the 20 year strategy for Irish and chaired by taoiseach Enda Kenny, had been criticised for only meeting twice during the lifetime of the last government.

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Two new committees - the committee on Social Policy and Public Services and the committee relating to the economy - will take responsibility for matters relating to Irish language and Gaeltacht affairs from now on.

Government chief whip Joe McHugh, who also has responsibility for Irish language affairs, said the decision was evidence that the Government “understands the strong impact the Irish language has on the economy of the Gaeltacht”.

He said it was also “clear” this Government “will be focusing more on the provision of public services to Irish language speakers in their own language”.

Mr McHugh, who was promoted in Mr Varadkar's June Cabinet reshuffle, said the decision "will facilitate the implementation of the Government's major policy measures relating to the language".

These include the 20 Year Strategy for the Irish Language 2010-2030, the Policy on Gaeltacht Education and the Official Languages Bill (Amendment) 2017.

“It is through this reformed measure that I intend to put the Irish language centre stage when it comes to high quality public services, education services and economic matters,” Mr McHugh added.

Conradh na Gaeilge’s Julian de Spáinn welcomed the clarification received on the new committee structure.

“We understand the reasoning behind the decision that Irish language and Gaeltacht issues will be more central in Government discussions, ranging across all areas from education to the economy,” he said.

Mr de Spáinn said the Conradh would adopt a “wait and see” approach as to whether or not the newly-constituted committees allocate enough time to Irish language and Gaeltacht matters.

“There is a danger that these Government committees won’t have enough time to make the language and the Gaeltacht the priority it should be. Only time will tell. Conradh na Gaeilge will certainly continue to work to ensure that this doesn’t happen, and we will keep the community updated on the matter,” he said.

The Government also announced on Thursday the title of Department for Arts, Heritage and Culture is to be extended to account for its responsibility for Gaeltacht affairs.

The department will be known from now on as the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

Mr McHugh said the decision gave “due recognition to the language and the Gaeltacht”.

Further details on the make-up of the new Cabinet committee structures are expected to be announced on Friday.