Republican News · Thursday 23 January 1997

Congratulations to West Belfast Gaelgeoirí.

West Belfast has again been rewarded on its exceptional drive to promote Irish language and culture. In a nationwide competition. Arts and Gaeltacht Minister Michael D Higgins announced in a ceremony in Dublin on Monday 20 January that the West Belfast Glór na nGael group was voted all Ireland winner. They received £9,000 in prize money.

The award is given to communities which have done the most to promote Irish language and culture throughout the country but it is believed that the adjudicators were particularly impressed by the efforts to create employment through the medium of the Irish language. They also showed great interest in the work being carried out by recently-formed jobs group Forbairt Feirste.

Glór na nGael West Belfast chairperson Noirin Ui Chleirigh said she was delighted with the award, ``Everyone needs a pat on the back now and again and the only drawback is to see other groups, who work equally hard, lose. Nobody should underestimate the commitment it takes to educate children through an Irish medium all over this country, but especially difficult in the north where this education is in a completely English environment''.

She added, ``we have a government that has never encouraged the existence of the language never mind its growth, but has only accommodated it because of the amount of pressure brought to bear on them by the ordinary people on the street''.

Gerry Adams congratulated ``all those in West Belfast who have contributed to the area emerging as the clear overall winner in Glór na nGael's national competition to promote the language and culture''. He added, ``it is time the British government ended its discriminatory policy against the Irish language and culture, particularly in the field of Irish medium education. Equality is a right which this British government appears incapable of accepting''.

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