From Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
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Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD, and Government Chief Whip and Minister of State for the Gaeltacht and Sport, Jack Chambers TD, announced (today, 22 October 2021) that they have set up a stabilisation fund worth €1.7m to help the Irish Language summer colleges sector. The funding is being made available as a result of the cancellation of Irish language courses in the Gaeltacht for the second summer in a row due to COVID-19.
Under the special fund established, a basic payment of between €500 and €7,000 and a payment of €75 per student will be made available to eligible colleges. Total payment will be based on the number of students who attended summer courses at the college in question in 2019. This arrangement would be subject to a maximum payment of €142,000 (2,000 students) for each relevant college, which would help colleges cover administration, insurance and maintenance costs for the current year.
The establishment of this funding follows the special €2.2m fund announced in July to support Gaeltacht families who provide accommodation for Gaeltacht college students and €240,000 for Gaeltacht community halls to address the impact of COVID-19 on the summer colleges sector.
As an additional measure for the benefit both of the colleges and of those who missed out on the opportunity to attend summer courses this year and last, the department has also announced that it will be happy to grant recognition, as an exception, for short courses of one week or two weeks under the department's scheme between now and next summer subject to the normal conditions of the scheme and in line with COVID-19 restrictions.
Minister Martin said:
“The summer college sector in the Gaeltacht is certainly of particular importance, both in the language learning and enrichment opportunities they provide for young people, and in the valuable income of the Gaeltacht families and communities who depend on it. As a practical recognition of the importance of the sector, my department makes an annual investment of over €4m for the benefit of the sector through my department's Irish Learners' Scheme. This measure announced today will help to ensure that the sector is stabilised for 2022 as much as possible so that Irish language colleges are back in full swing next summer."
Minister of State Chambers said:
“As this is the second year in a row that COVID-19 has forced the Irish Language Colleges in the Gaeltacht to be cancelled, we have established three separate funds to assist key stakeholders – the Gaeltacht families who provide accommodation for the students, the community halls that provide facilities for the colleges, and now specific support is being provided for the colleges themselves.
“Between this funding and the specific measure that is also being announced under which the department will be happy to recognise, as an exception, short courses of not less than one week between now and summer 2022, interested Gaeltacht colleges are being provided with the opportunity to organise short courses, and accordingly cater for those who missed out on a summer course in the Gaeltacht due to COVID-19.
“As a result of all this and what has been done up to now for the benefit of the Gaeltacht summer college sector, we will ensure that colleges have a successful come back next year. In addition, with the additional funding available in 2022 for the department's *Community and Language Supports Programme*, we will now be able to look ahead to what else can be done to help the system and to provide additional opportunities to young people who would not normally have the opportunity to attend a summer course in the Gaeltacht. Further measures in this regard will be announced in due course."
The overall objective of all of these measures is to support the sector to return to normal service in 2022, which will enable it to continue to build on the systematic effort being made to support the Irish language and the Gaeltacht in accordance with the overarching objectives of the government's 2018-2022 Action Plan for the Irish Language and the government's 20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language 2010-2030.