Ó Cuiv’s language grant better spent elsewhere

THE Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Eamon Ó Cuiv, has announced that €700,000 is to be spent on teaching Irish in foreign universities.

I hope this money is wisely spent. Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing this.

At a time of extreme cutbacks at home, as instanced by Mr Ó Cuiv’s decision to cut grants for Irish summer colleges, and other matters like the suspension of support for alarm systems to protect the elderly, one has to wonder if this money could not be better spent here to help children learn the spoken word, which is sadly neglected in favour of the written language in the teaching of Irish. And this also comes at a time when we have cut back on our overseas aid programme, which is often a matter of life and death for many people.