Gaeltacht needs planning changes – to protect the language

BÁNÚ has written to Tánaiste Micheál Martin, as leader of Fianna Fáil, and to Taoiseach Simon Harris, as leader of Fine Gael, detailing how the lack of housing for Irish speakers in Gaeltacht areas was getting worse, every year, placing Irish as a living community language in jeopardy.

The petition – in Irish to Micheál Martin and in English to Simon Harris – appealed to both leaders to ensure that measures will be included in the Programme for Government, which will help to tackle the problem.

The petition asserted that the failure to deal with the housing crisis in Gaeltacht areas was having a detrimental effect on the long-term prospects for Irish as a community language in few remaining Irish speaking areas in the State.

The petition welcomed the commitment given by both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in their respective recent General Election Manifestos, which indicated that both parties envisage a role for Údarás na Gaeltachta in the provision of houses for Irish speakers in Gaeltacht areas.

However, BÁNÚ stated in the petition that election promises were worthless unless they translated into a solid commitment in the Programme for Government to give Údarás na Gaeltachta the statutory power – as well as the necessary resources – to enable it to actively engage in housing provision, including the procurement and preparation of serviced sites which could be sold at cost to Irish speakers to build their own houses.

Caption: Conradh na Gaeilge’s Róisín Ní Chinnéide, speaking in support of BÁNÚ's campaign on housing in the Gaeltacht, outside Leinster House, last May.

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