Republican News · Thursday 19 December 2002

Cutbacks hamper Foras na Gaeilge

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As part of our series of articles on the all-Ireland implementation bodies, JOANNE CORCORAN talks to Gearóid Ó hEára about the work of the Irish langage body, Foras na Gaeilge, which has just had its funding cut by 11%, almost €2 million, as a result of Charlie McCreevy's Budget

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The Good Friday Agreement stated that it would "take resolute action to promote the Irish language". Foras na Gaeilge, the all-Ireland Irish language body, is one of the four implementation bodies that An Phoblacht has been examining in the last few weeks. It is one of the most relevant to Sinn Féin, but remains one of the least known to many on this island.

We approached one of the two Sinn Féin representatives on the board of Foras, Gearóid Ó hEara, and asked him just what exactly the body is doing, and whether the Irish language can possibly be revived, given that this era of globalisation is continually eroding national languages.

"Irish isn't a dying language," Gearóid states adamantly. "There are still people on this island who speak only Irish, and there is a new generation of young people all over the country being educated in Gaelscoileanna.

"We're not fighting a losing battle. But we have to improve the status of the Irish language in people's minds, the opportunities for people to use it, the resources available to them, and the way it is portrayed by the mass media."

This sounds like an awful lot to do, but Gearóid says Foras has achieved a lot. "However, the government's decision to cut the agency's funding in the Budget is going to really hit us hard."

So what is this body, that is planning an Irish-speaking revival?

Foras na Gaeilge was a body set up with the objective of promoting the Irish language on an all-island basis. As well as taking over the functions of Bord na Gaeilge, a wide range of functions were given to the Agency to add to its effectiveness in the promotion of Irish, for example, in the area of education, dictionaries and terminology. It also took over the functions of An Gúm, in relation to publications.

The staff of Bord na Gaeilge, An Gúm (Publishers) and An Coiste Téarmaíochta (Terminology Development) and their activities have all been transferred to the new body.

Maighréad Uí Mháirtín is Chair of Foras na Gaeilge and there are 15 other members on the Board. As well as Gearóid Ó hEara, Sinn Féin has another representative on the board, Gearóid MacSiacais.

"One of the main aims of the Foras work was to redress the historic neglect of the British towards the Irish language in the Six Counties, as well as to service and expand the existing support for Irish in the 26 Counties," Gearóid says.

Originally the bulk of the funds for the body were to come from the Dublin government, which was to amalgamate almost all of their existing budgets supporting Irish language activity, Bord na Gaeilge, and An Gúm primarily, and provide some additional money. The British agreed to put up 25% of this figure.

"A large percent of this budget was already precommitted," Gearóid informs us. "For example, the government stipulated in the legislation setting up Foras that funds to Conradh na Gaeilge, Comhdháil, Glór etc would have to be continued by Foras.

"This means that we didn't have much funding for new projects to begin with, but there will probably be cuts across the aboard now, as a result of the minister's decision. We're losing 11% in total. It works out at almost €2 million.

"It also means that the British can cut back their funding."

Despite the obstacles in its way, even with its original funding problems, Foras has had a number of successes to date.

"We've assisted Irish language projects and Irish language organisations and we've established new partnerships," Gearóid says. "Core funding for a number of organisations has been provided as has funding for major projects and over 400 minor projects.

"We ran a major advertising campaign on all broadcast media across Ireland and more than 2,000 people contacted the Foras directly arising out of the campaign. In addition to this, we entered into a new contract with the newspaper Foinse and additional assistance was given to Lá and also other Irish language magazines.

"We brought out a dictionary of English-Irish Parliamentary terms also, and that has been successful."

Foras has plans to increase the supply of Irish language textbooks. Other teaching resources and policy proposals in relation to education in the Gaeltacht and the Arts are being followed up.

"We want to create a whole network of cultural resource centres across the country," Gearóid says. "I'd like to see the agency working as a genuine national device, not just operating in Dublin or the west, or wherever.

"We've done a lot for Irish in the Six Counties," he adds. '"There are now Irish language officers across the whole of the Six Counties, even in areas where traditionally there was no funding given to the Irish language."

However, Gearóid says, Foras is extremely underfunded already, and the cuts are going to seriously affect its abilities to function.

"We support the Irish language for a number of reasons," he says. "The Irish language is part of our cultural identity. It's particularly relevant to support Irish in the Six Counties, as Irish speakers there have been constantly attacked for asserting their Irishness."

"We're not looking for an exclusive Irish state," Gearóid assures, laughing, when faced with the question of whether he'd ban Irish people from speaking English, given the chance.

"We believe that it is critical to maintain the Irish language as part of our identity. But we can develop as a bilingual state, which uses English to communicate in the wider world but is proud of its own language."

Foras has a number of future ideas, which it hopes to implement, despite the Budget cutbacks. These include; regional offices in the Six Counties, a national daily Irish language paper based in the Six Counties, a network of Culture Resource Centres across the Six Counties, and the development of an Irish-medium television and radio sector there.

"The effect of the recent budget cuts will effectively contribute to the non-implementation of the aspirations contained in the Good Friday Agreement concerning the Irish language," Gearóid says. "We have strategies that we want implemented in the coming years but we are going to need the financial support to implement them. Whether that's available to us now, we don't know."