Irish Government Criticised for Failure to Support Irish Language Strategy

The Irish television network RTE are reporting on criticism leveled agianst the Irish Government for its failure to make progress on the implementation of the goals outlined in the  "Twenty Year Stratgy For the Irish language".  A spokesman for  "Conradh na Gaeilge", which is  the main voluntary community organisation promoting the Irish language, charged a "very slow pace" of implementation.

Former Minister for the Gaeltacht (Irish Speaking Areas of Ireland) Eamon O Cuiv, is cited in the RTE report " Mr. O Cuiv raised concerns about teaching of Irish in schools and said that the vast majority of primary school teachers cannot hold a conversation in the langauge and that the teaching sytem has failed."

The website of the Irish Government Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht defines the objectives of the "Twenty Year Strategy for the Irish Language" as follows:

Objectives

The specific objectives of the Strategy are to:
• increase the number of people who speak Irish on a daily basis outside the education system from 83,000 to 250,000;
• increase by 25% the number of people who speak Irish on a daily basis in the Gaeltacht; and
• increase the number of people who use State services through Irish and who can access television, radio and print media through the language.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0919/475315-irish-language-strategy

http://www.ahg.gov.ie/en/20-YearStrategyfortheIrishLanguage2010-2030