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.

From my experience teaching Irish for a short period in New York, those who wanted to learn the language were willing to pay for doing so — whereas at home, except for gaelscoileanna, the use of Irish as a spoken language is declining rapidly even in Gaeltacht areas. I am frequently disheartened at the prospects of our native language — an inheritance to treasure.

Unfortunately, our efforts have been ineffective and its decline continues apace. Until we put an emphasis on spoken Irish in every setting, no matter how small, I fear for its future.

It would appear from this funds allocation that Minister Ó Cuiv favours the academic approach over the community approach where real language is actually spoken.

Senator Fidelma Healy Eames

Fine Gael Education and Science Spokesperson

Seanad Eireann

Kildare Street

Dublin 2