More Irish-speaking language therapists agreed

Children in Gaeltacht areas will no longer be deprived of native-speaking speech language therapists, it was claimed today.

The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Eamon O’Cuiv, said he had approved the hiring of three Irish-speaking language therapists to address the shortage.

“Parents in the Gaeltacht who were rearing their children through Irish have often said that they had to change to English in the case of children with language difficulties, as there were no support services available to help those children through the medium of Irish,” he said.

The Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs is sharing the €174,000 cost with the Health Services Executive (HSE). However, the HSE will provide all the funding for the service from next year onwards.

In 2002, the Gaeltacht Commission recommended the provision of dedicated speech language therapists for the Gaeltacht.

It also found that of 154 district electoral divisions in the Gaeltacht, only 18 of more than 75% of their inhabitants speaking Irish daily.

Mr O’Cuiv said the new teiripeoiri urlabhra (speech therapists) would help to preserve and perpetuate the Irish language as a community and family language in the Gaeltacht.

He added that another €37,500 would be spent to translate into Irish the Mini Mental State Examination, which is used to diagnose people with Alzheimer’s disease.