Gaeltacht group calls on Government to help secure future of West Cork Irish college

Coláiste na Mumhan in Ballingeary, Cork, will not open this year, costing the Gaeltacht village €40,000 in lost income

Coláiste na Mumhan: Ballingeary village development group Coiste Forbartha Béal Atha’n Ghaorhaidh raised concerns in January about the future of the college, and called on the college trustees to reopen it or hand it over to them to run. Picture: Dan Linehan

A Gaeltacht development group has called for ministerial intervention to secure the future of the country’s oldest Irish college following confirmation it will not open for summer courses this year.

Coláiste na Mumhan in Ballingeary, Cork, will remain shuttered this year despite the best efforts of the village development group, Coiste Forbartha Béal Atha’n Ghaorhaidh, to work with the college trustees to secure Irish language courses there this summer.

It could cost the Gaeltacht up to €40,000 in lost income.

Coiste members, who raised concerns in January about the future of the college, and who called on the college trustees, Comhaltas Coláiste na Mumhan, to reopen it or hand it over to them to run, expressed bitter disappointment at the news, especially at a time when demand for Gaeltacht courses is surging.

Spokesman Tadhg Ó Duinnín said they met representatives of the college twice since and subsequently engaged in protracted email correspondence during which the trustees suggested they could licence the college to the Coiste.

But Mr Ó Duinnín said there were just too many legal issues to resolve in time for this summer season and so the process collapsed.

The not-for-profit community organisation, Comhaltas Coláiste na Mumhan, has been asked to comment. 

The Coiste said ministerial intervention was probably needed now to secure the college’s long-term future and to exploit its remarkable potential to the full.

In a hard-hitting statement, the Coiste criticised the trustees for failing to organise Irish courses this summer, for allowing their membership fall, for poor planning, and for allowing the college facilities fall into disrepair.

“These courses have been very important for Ballingeary’s culture, heritage and economy for nearly 120 years,” the Coiste said.

“The Comhaltas has lost vital connectivity with the Ballingeary community, having lost all its vital Ballingeary membership over the last two years.

“The coláiste’s buildings, which have incredible potential, have not been used in any meaningful way outside of five weeks of the summer courses.

The Comhaltas have run courses for only one summer since 2019 — and that was in 2023. All this is happening at a time when Irish summer colleges throughout the country are thriving.

“We firmly believe the courses will not run in 2025 due to Comhaltas Coláiste na Mumhan’s inability to do so. We wish to take their place."

Coláiste na Mumhan opened in 1904 as Ireland’s first Irish language teacher training college.

It began offering summer courses for secondary school students some years later.

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The most recently available figures published by the Charities Regulator shows Colaiste na Mumhan had a deficit for 2022 of just over €20,100, with total income of just €8,239 and expenditure of €28,455.

In 2021, it recorded €26,200 income by the end of December, with expenditure of €33,600, and the previous year, it had €43,916 income with €51,000 expenditure.

By contrast, a decade ago, its total income for 2014 was €185,000, with expenditure of €184,000.