Údarás na Gaeltachta stategic plan seeks to create 1,500 jobs

The creation of digital high-speed broadband hubs in Gaeltacht areas and the islands is part of a strategy to attract back emigrants and help create 1,500 jobs.

The plan features in the 2018-2020 strategic plan of Údarás na Gaeltachta, the regional authority responsible for the Gaeltacht’s economic, social and cultural development, whose overall objective is to ensure that Irish remains the main communal language of the Gaeltacht.

Census 2016 data showed that the proportion of people living in Gaeltacht areas who can speak the language fell from 68.5% to 66.3% since 2011. In the same five-year period, daily use of the language fell in all but four of the Gaeltacht’s 26 language planning areas.