Irish Examiner View: Gaeltachtaí are struggling to develop

The difficulties in establishing a household in a Gaeltacht area are challenging enough without competing against those buying a second home.

The Gaeltachtaí are almost by definition remote zones with limited employment opportunities.

In the blizzard of statistics and percentages flowing from yesterday’s budget, readers could be forgiven for missing out on a story in these pages which identified a particularly modern Irish phenomenon, in all senses of the world.

A recent meeting held in Coláiste na Rinne in the Waterford Gaeltacht heard the representatives of Comhlacht Forbartha na nDéise give a succinct appraisal of the situation: “The housing issue is now the greatest danger to the preservation and strengthening of Na Déise as an Irish-speaking Gaeltacht area, as young Irish-speaking families are finding it impossible to remain in the area.”

There are any number of grim ironies at play in this bald assertion of facts, not least that the Gaeltachtaí are almost by definition remote zones with limited employment opportunities.

The difficulties in establishing a household in such an area are challenging enough without facing the added difficulty of competing in a housing market against people with the wherewithal to purchase a second home.

It is a housing issue which is different to the problems faced by those in urban areas, but no less difficult for those in the various Gaeltachtaí around the country, and not just in west Waterford.

It is worth sifting through yesterday’s budget statements to see if there are any nuggets which could offer hope to those seeking to live their lives speaking the first official language of the State, but a bland commitment was all that came to light: “€1.25m to support Irish as a living language in the Gaeltacht communities”, according to Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath’s statement.

Something more concrete will be needed if Irish is to continue as a living language, though. Ní bheathaíonn na breithre na bráithre, as they might say in the Gaeltacht.