Meeting of the North South Ministerial Council Languages Sector Held

The twenty-seventh North South Ministerial Council Language Body meeting was held today, Friday 27th November 2020, in the NSMC Joint Secretariat Offices, Armagh and via video conference. This, the first meeting of the Council in the North South Language Body sector since June 2016, was chaired by Government Chief Whip and the Minister of State for Sport and the Gaeltacht, Jack Chambers TD, Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and also attended by Carál Ní Chuilín MLA (Department for Communities) and Gordon Lyons MLA (The Executive Office), by senior officials from the Ministers’ departments and by representatives from both agencies comprising the Language Body, Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster-Scots Agency.

Minister Chambers welcomed the resumption of the NSMC meetings and, as the Taoiseach noted at the plenary meeting of the Council held at Dublin Castle in July, how the new Programme for Government attaches a very high priority to North/South cooperation.

In his opening remarks, Minister of State Chambers said ‘The work of the Language Body, as a North/South Implementation Body, demonstrates what can be achieved by working together.’’ Ministers welcomed the COVID-19 response of both agencies and acknowledged the commitment of all staff and organisations in both jurisdictions who have continued to work to support to the Irish Language and Ulster-Scots sectors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Council approved the appointment of three Board Members to the Language Body. Daithí Mac Cárthaigh, Neasa Ní Chiaráin and Ola Majekodunmi have been appointed to the board of Foras na Gaeilge for a four year term. Further appointments will be made in the coming weeks.

Minister Chambers again acknowledged the importance of cooperation between both jurisdictions. He emphasised the Government’s continued commitment to North South cooperation and said that he looked forward to working with Minister Ní Chuilín and Minister Lyons to promote and develop the Irish Language and Ulster-Scots sectors.

ENDS

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Dáithí Mac Cárthaigh, BA., M.A., LL.B

In his practice as a barrister, he has done significant work on protecting language rights. He has been the Law and Irish Coordinator at King’s Inns since 2010 where he leads advanced diploma courses training graduates who wish to become Irish language lawyer-linguists and legal translators with the European Union as well as courses in legal practice through Irish. He campaigned for the Irish language to gain official status as a working language of the European Union. He was President of Conradh na Gaeilge from 2005-2008. He has recently published An Ghaeilge sa Dlí, a seminal textbook on the status of Irish at national and EU level, today agus historically, and containing recommendations based on international best practice.

Dr Neasa Ní Chiaráin

Assistant Professor Ussher, C.L.C.S. Trinity College Dublin. She is working on developing speech and language technology for the Irish language, especially focusing on synthetic Irish language voices as part of the project ABAIR (www.abair.ie). Her research focuses on exploring the application of speech and language technology in the context of Computer Aided Language Learning (CALL), particularly in relation to the teaching/learning of the Irish language.

Ola Majekodunmi, Baile Átha Cliath

Ola Majekodunmi is an Irish language activist, freelance writer and public speaker, and is a broadcaster with Raidió na Life. She is a writer, providing content for the Irish Times, journal.ie, RTÉ.ie and other platform, and has also worked with TG4. In 2018, Ola directed a short film “What does Irishness Look Like?” which was very well received. She has a BA (English, Media and Cultural Studies) and MA in Broadcast Production from the National Film School. She was nominated for “Réalt Óg na Bliana 2018, and was nominated for a National Student Media Award in the ‘Journalism through the medium of Irish’ category in 2018 and 2019.