Gaeltacht — funding allocations

ABAIR - School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences of Trinity College Dublin

ABAIR focuses on developing a range of speech technologies and language facilities, and providing them to the Irish-speaking community.

The ABAIR.ie website provides educational facilities for Irish language teachers and learners. ABAIR voices and linguistic technologies are used for the acquisition of speech, writing, listening and reading skills.

Céad Míle Fáilte focuses on the benefits that new communities can derive from the Irish language – in terms of the importance of the language, the additional opportunities associated with it and integration into Irish society. It aims to encourage new communities in Ireland to learn and use the Irish language as a way of fostering a stronger Irish identity for themselves. This programme is being run by Conradh na Gaeilge across 2026 and 2027.

Community Development and Language Support Programme, support provided to three clubs in Gaeltacht areas in Donegal.

See breakdown below on the various grants allocated under this announcement.

eSTÓR was established to provide a central national facility in which bilingual language data from public bodies – such as bilingual Irish/English documents – could be compiled and shared.

With this financial support, users of the platform will be able to continue providing their language resources and sharing them on the national portal, eSTÓR. Those resources will benefit the Government of Ireland and the machine translation platform of the European Commission, eTranslation.

This programme actively supports the status of the Irish language as an official language of the European Union, in line with the 20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language 2010-2030 , through the provision of internship opportunities to graduates.

Interns will experience working life in Europe, receive training in the Irish language units in the European institutions, and increase their skills to give them a better chance in future recruitment competitions. Interns also contribute to the translation into Irish of various types of documentation for the public.

• European Commission, Brussels (two internships)
• Council of the European Union, Brussels
• Committee of the Regions, Brussels
• European Parliament, Luxembourg
• Court of Auditors, Luxembourg
• Publications Office, Luxembourg

The application process is administered by the Centre of Excellence for Careers in the European Union.

The Fighting Words Irish language programme contributes to the use of the language among young people and to the use of Irish in the education system – in Gaeltacht areas and other locations across the country. Through the creative writing projects they run in the Gaeltacht – and their appealing, positive approach – they create opportunities to use Irish in new and interesting ways and they encourage positive attitudes towards the language.

The projects developed by Gaois are state-of-the-art research and reference resources which provide a comprehensive facility to the Irish language community focused on the development of innovative resources to sustain the language and learning of Irish.

This funding will enable Gaois to develop greater integration between the sites, to provide more powerful search facilities, and to ensure a structured supply of information in a measured way to AI models. Additionally, it will advance the Gaois working groups; develop the next generation of technicians and researchers; and sustain the resources’ userbase.

A grant of up to €108,075 over a 3-year period was approved for the Mayo, Sligo & Leitrim Education & Training Board last year. The grant relates to a pilot project called Gael-Iomána for transition year students in Gaeltacht post-primary schools in Mayo.. Participants will be provided with an Irish language learning programme which will include Teaching Hurling Skills, TEG Gaeilge B2, Insight into Healthy Eating and Work Experience.

Since its establishment in 1968, CONCOS has acted as an umbrella organisation for the Irish language summer colleges sector. They provide advisory services in addition to their work advocating for the sector.

Irish medium schools in Gaeltacht Service Towns and Líonra Gaeilge towns that have been identified under the language planning process will be able to avail of language assistant (Cúntóir Teanga) funding as part of the language planning process.

The scheme is managed on behalf of the department by Muintearas in Donegal and the Western Region, Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne in the Southern Region, and Glór na nGael in the Gaeltacht Service Towns and Irish-Language Networks.

€3.143 million funding has been allocated for four strategic projects administered by Maynooth University across the period 2025 to 2028. This includes funding to provide for standardised examinations and TEG certification for learners and skilled users of Irish, who wish to obtain independent assurance of their language ability and achieve a qualification that is recognised nationally and internationally.

Muintearas Teo is a subsidiary of Údarás na Gaeltachta and has long-term responsibility for youth development in the Gaeltacht. Muintearas is responsible for promoting training, education, youth and early education projects, and administering the Summer Camps Scheme and the Language Assistants Scheme ón behalf of the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht.

There are currently 42 youth clubs registered with Muintearas providing services to 1,534 young people throughout the Gaeltacht.

On Tuesday 28th October 2025, the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, Dara Calleary TD, announced that an allocation of up to €493,509 has now been approved for Muintearas Teo. to develop a youth services programme in the Gaeltacht in 2026.

This Scheme provides support to the business community in Dublin, Co. Galway, Co. Kildare, and Co. Mayo, encouraging them to use the Irish language as they provide products and services to the community.

The Scheme increases the subsidies payable to Gaeltacht families and residential colleges who provide accommodation for attendees of Irish-language colleges.

More than 500 families across the Gaeltacht who are registered with the department under the scheme will benefit from the increase, with effect from the beginning of the 2025 summer courses on 31 May 2025.

Funding is provided under this scheme for the teaching of Irish in universities in universities in Continental Europe and the United Kingdom.

The aims of the fund are to foster and promote goodwill towards the Irish language outside the State and to provide a platform for the accessibility and promotion of the Irish language as an international language. The fund is open to applications from overseas third level institutions wishing to provide Irish language courses as part of their academic programme.