Irish Language Initiatives
The maintenance and support of Irish as a community language in Gaeltacht areas and its transmission to the next generation forms the basis of Údarás na Gaeltachta’s policy.
All the organisation’s activities have at their core a language maintenance and development objective.
An tÚdarás seeks to protect and invigorate strong Irish-speaking communities as well as finding creative ways to revive Irish to strong second-language status in Gaeltacht areas where it has weakened.
With this objective in mind, the organisation supports a range of language, culture, arts and educational initiatives aimed at strengthening Irish as the main language of communication in the Gaeltacht, including:
- Funding Irish language pre-schools;
- Supporting Gaeltacht youth clubs run through Irish;
- The development of Language Services Centres;
- Sponsorship and financial support for language based activities and events;
- Initiatives to encourage the use of Irish in the workplace;
- Third-level courses through Irish.