Paul Murphy presses for £55m to fund the Irish language and Grailtaught

There was a huge protest on Saturday in Dublin, Ciarta, the streets were Djarig le Fjarig, 25,000 people coming out to demand action in terms of funding for the Irish language on the Grailtaught, action on education, action in relation to the housing crisis and in relation to language rights. What I think the turnout speaks to is, on the one hand, a moment for the Irish language from below of a renewal, a resurgence, more and more parents, for example, wanting to send their children to Irish medium language schools, but on the other hand, a complete failure of the government to act. Historically low levels of funding for the Grailtaught, an absence of investment in Irish medium language and a continuation of the crisis. And what I want to ask the Minister, what we're two weeks from the Budget, is whether action is going to be taken, in line with the wishes of all those in the protest and, I believe, the wishes of the majority of people in this country. In relation to funding, for the state and the government to recognise that the historic inequality of baseline level funding for the Irish language and the Grailtaught, and the resulting negative impact that that has had on the realisation of language rights for the public over years, and that the funding gap be addressed. I mean, the figures are very, very striking. In 1956, only 0.15% of total state expenditure of the South was on the Irish language and the Grailtaught. In the last number of years, it's fallen to just 0.1% for the Department of the Grailtaught. There is a plan, the Plan Fóth, which has been agreed and endorsed by over 130 different Irish language, Grailtaught and other groups to tackle the impact of unequal funding. But is the state, is the government going to agree to fund it? They're going to agree to provide £55 million in additional funding for the Irish language and the Grailtaught, based on the proposals included in the Plan Fóth. You take Forest Naguilga, which has 45%, in taking into account the effect of inflation, 45% less funding than it did 20 years ago, while it has the number of community groups. It is, in turn, funding has grown significantly over the same period of time. Does the government agree that Forest Naguilga needs to be properly funded? Or take the issue of the housing crisis. Obviously, we have a housing crisis right across the country, but it is particularly acute in Grailtaught areas. I mean, the fears are striking about something like 1,000 Airbnbs available in Grailtaught areas and 10 properties to rent on DAF.ie or whatever. And this is a housing crisis, but it's also then a language crisis as a result. There's only 20,000, just slightly over 20,000, daily Irish speakers in the Grailtaught. There's a 12.8% decrease between 2011 and 2022. And if young people growing up in the Grailtaught cannot find somewhere to live in the Grailtaught, affordable, decent accommodation, well, then they're not going to be able to stay there and therefore causing a crisis for our Grailtaught communities. Will the government agree to provide Grailtaught with the power to purchase land or property for housing and providing social and cultural facilities? Will the government agree to provide additional funding to Grailtaught to establish a housing department to facilitate a Grailtaught population and housing strategy for each Grailtaught language planning area? Well, thank you very much, Deputy Murphy, for your really important question. And no more than your own area, busloads left Cavan Monaghan too at the weekend to get up and support all things Irish language. And it is heartening to hear, I think you're absolutely right, there is this ground swell of support for the Irish language and seeing it adequately and properly funded as our national tongue. A day of protest, as you alluded to, was held last weekend by Irish language and Grailtaught organisations from across the island, north and south to highlight a range of issues, including funding for the language, language rights in the north, the implementation of the language legislation, access to public services and housing in the Grailtaught. Levels of funding for Fjórras na Grailtaught are a source of frustration for six main lead organisations in the Irish language sector as they receive core funding from Fjórras na Grailtaught. The Irish Government provides 75% of Fjórras na Grailtaught's approved budget annually, with the remaining 25% coming from the Northern Ireland Executive in accordance with the funding ratio agreed with the north-south language body as established. Funding for the north-south language body, including Fjórras na Grailtaught, is approved by the north-south ministerial and requires match funding and agreed by the Northern Executive. The Irish Government cannot unilaterally amend the budgets or the ratios of the north-south implementation bodies, but Minister Cilheri is acutely aware of the different economic and political circumstances that exist within both jurisdictions. Officials from the Sponsor Department in both jurisdictions are in weekly contact at this stage in an effort to resolve the issue. Notwithstanding this, the Irish Government has provided significant additional funding to the Irish language and the Gaeltaught each year since 2020, with baseline funding doubling in the past five years. While Fjórras na Grailaga has not been able to benefit directly from this, Minister Cilheri's department has initiated a variety of schemes and programmes to ensure the funding reaches the organisations working on the ground with Irish language and Gaeltaught communities across the country. A significant amount of funding is being provided to some of the Irish language-led organisations, which are also part-funded by Fjórras na Grailaga. The Government has also approved over £2 million in additional funding for Fjórras na Grailaga, specifically to support the Irish language publishing sector under Cláirna Láir Gaelaga, a programme which is not subject to co-funding arrangements and is entirely funded by the Irish Government. The Government has also approved significant funding for a series of initiatives being delivered by local organisations, Cunhra na Grailaga, Glorra na Gael and Gaelin, who receive core funding from Fjórras na Grailaga, but are being limited due to the financial challenges within Fjórras. This funding is helping to alleviate some of the financial challenges faced by the leading organisations. Initiatives currently funded by the Government are the Gael Brack Scheme for Schools, we have Glorra na Gael promoting the use of Irish in the home, we have Glorra na Gaelaga, a careers roadshow for schools and universities, and Cláir Géad Míla Fáilse, introducing migrant communities to the language funding to provide Irish medium early years sector and also Oireachtas na Gaelaga, which of course is significant funding to develop both the language-based arts and the Irish language network for public service. I have to say, Deputy, I did have the pleasure of going to a national school, a little national school in Munshire Connacht, in my own county, and their principal there, Mr Vincent Mulvey, have done, and his team there, have done incredible, that programme in particular, where kids and students and pupils are encouraged to use the Irish language as part, it's not a Gael school, but it's that idea of introducing their native tongue in a very simple, you know, everyday use, whether it be to go to the toilet or to do their activities or whatever, and those kind of schemes are having a real-life impact. Thanks a lot, Minister. I kind of dealt with funding and housing to some degree in the introduction, so I might deal here with education and language rights, which are the other two features of the protest and the demands of the movement. I mean, the striking thing when it comes to education is just a mismatch between parent aspiration and wishes and the reality of school availability. You know, close to one in four parents say that if they had the option in their local community of sending their kids to an Irish medium language school, they would do so, and the last government pledged to double, or to work towards doubling the number of pupils attending Irish medium education, but actually the numbers fell by 3%, so more parents than ever are saying we'd like to send our children to Irish medium language education, and actually the numbers are falling down. Only 6% of pupils receive education through Irish. The contrast, you know, like Wales, the more you learn about the struggle for the Irish language today, Wales is a consistent example of how things should be done. In Wales, they currently have 23% of kids going to school through Welsh, and a plan for 40% by 2050, a clear, ambitious and measurable goal. And what we need from the government is a similar target, to have an ambitious target, to say 20% over a period of 20 years, and then provide for that, both in terms of funding and legislation. Similarly, there are issues in terms of over 50,000 students in secondary school being exempt from learning Irish, and no plan whatsoever to exempt it, to address that. The final issue I'd ask for is that we have a national plan for Irish language public services, which was published in 2024, but we have no plans for the implementation of that. So when is the action plan to implement that to be published, and will it include things like the Common European Framework of Reference being implemented in the education system, Irish language courses aligned with the CEF4, growing the number of third-level courses through Irish, from less than 1% to 5%, establishing a scheme to provide Irish language courses aligned with that, and increasing the provision of education, as I spoke about. Well, as I said, Deputy Murphy, thank you so much for raising this, because I think it's really important that we do discuss the funding and, I suppose, the vision for our national tongue here in our Parliament. And, I suppose, up to now, it really has been that groundswell of support on the ground that has kind of made that unbalance that you can see when you look across nationally. Some counties are doing fantastic, some don't have the same opportunities. For example, in County Monaghan, there's four national schools and one secondary school. And it would have to be said, I don't think I'd be wrong in saying, that has been championed by someone like Brendan O'Duffy, who has just, for years and years, championed seeing those national schools. And we're going to see a new national school, Gaeilsegall, open in Castleblaney, in the coming weeks. And that's the way it should be, that in all of our towns, our children and parents have the option of having their children going through the Irish language as their principal language and having their primary education in that. So, I wholeheartedly agree with that. And then I come to my own county, in County Eachaven, where we have only one primary school. We don't have that secondary school. But again, people like Porik O'Kooija have done enormous work in terms of championing that from the ground up. But we have, of course, a responsibility as a government to make sure that people who are so passionate about it are facilitated and enabled to provide, whether it be the primary schools, having the Gaeilthuk areas in their local area, having the public services through their local authorities. Having all that in place, I think is incredibly important and the protests we saw at the weekend just demonstrates to me how, I suppose, how passionately people feel about it and it was heartening to see that. As I pointed out earlier, the government in this jurisdiction cannot unilaterally amend the budgets or the funding ratios of the North-South implementation bodies. There are obviously issues as regards to funding arrangements for Forests and Gaeilge and Minister Killary is acutely aware of these issues. In light of this issue, Mr Killary has requested that his officials keep in regular contact with their counterparts in the Department for Communities in an effort to resolve the matter. Government investment in the Irish language and the Gaeilthuk has seen major increases, as I said, over the last five years with the baseline funding doubling since 2020. But, of course, you and I would agree I think we'll both be on the same page in saying we need more. We need more available to the organisations on the ground and we need more, as I said, that Gaeilthuk school scheme that's run over where schools that are not Gaeilthuk have every opportunity to nurture our native tongue in the most everyday scenarios as in their classroom and that is to be welcomed and we want to see more of that. While Fjords na Gaeilthuk has not been able to benefit directly from the funding I alluded to, the Government has initiated a variety of schemes and programmes to ensure the funding reaches the organisations working on the ground with the Irish language and Gaeilthuk communities across the country. Minister Killary has serious ambitions for his department and it has to be said of Gaeilgore himself. Unfortunately, I only have Cúplafúcl, but it would always make the effort where I could and it's great to see that Minister Killary is so proficient with the language. He's a great advocate for it too. He has a serious ambition for the department over the course of the programme for Government and he has the full support of the Taoiseach, Tháinister and the coalition partners in that regard. And I have no doubt that Minister Killary will be kicking down doors to ensure there's an increase in the allocation for the Gaeilthuk and the Irish language in Budget 2026. Thank you, Minister. Thank you, Minister.