Government hires ‘language planning’ experts to promote Irish

EXPERTS in “language planning” are being recruited by the Government to plot a 20-year strategy that will protect the Irish language.

The Department of Community Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs yesterday advertised for consultants who, over the next two years will develop language strategies for the State, voluntary and community sectors.

As their canvas, they will use the Government’s policy document Statement on the Irish Language 2006 which sets out 13 key principles including:

nthe support of the special status given to the Irish language in the constitution and in legislation.

nthe provision of a wide range of services in Irish aimed at promoting the Irish language from generation to generation.

nSpecial support to the Gaeltacht as a spatial entity.

nSupport to the teaching of Irish as an obligatory subject from primary to Leaving Certificate level.

During the two-year preparation of the strategy, the department will hold a consultation process during which the public will not only be able to make submissions on the subject but also be given feedback on those submissions and make further recommendations.

A survey by the department has found that almost 1.6 million people in the State can speak Irish and 92% of people surveyed feel that promoting the Irish language is important to the country, to themselves personally or to both.

Irish became an official and working language in the European Union on January 1, more than two years after the Government first tabled a proposal in Brussels seeking the status.