Water charges 'the final nail in the coffin' for Irish summer colleges

Irish summer colleges are facing the threat of closure because of water charges, it has been claimed today.

Hundreds of teenagers spend up to three weeks in native-speaking areas of Donegal learning Irish during the summer.

Many of these students are housed and fed by local families in the area, with each keeping up to 12 students each per summer.

Now the families fear that when they house the students during the summer months their water bill could become unmanageable.

Niall McCafferty told Highland Radio this could be the final nail in the coffin for the Irish language.

"Water charged will actually finish people keeping students, because they won't be able to afford it," he said.

"If you take it that 12 students, usually taking 12 showers a day, and sometimes more, clothes are washed in some places twice a week, but usually in most houses, they wash them every day.

"The amount of water they get through is astronomical

"It won’t be viable to keep them anymore. With the water charges, it will be the final nail in the coffin."