Breen backs West Clare Gaeltacht

A meeting held at Kilrush Golf Club last Friday addressed how West Clare can go about achieving Gaeltacht status.

The meeting was addressed by Clare Fine Gael TD Pat Breen, who commended the work carried out locally that promotes the Irish language, said that there is no Government plan in the pipeline, which would aid the promotion of the Irish language in Kilrush and West Clare. However, he did undertake to work to change this.
“The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht does not have a plan with regard to strengthening the Irish language in Clare at present. I will be making representations on your behalf and on behalf of your committees to keep the state of the Irish language in Clare under review,” he said.
“I will ask the Minister for the Gaeltacht if it is possible for him to consider giving interim Irish language speaking Network Status for the traditional Gaeltacht heartland in Clare. That is not to say that you will get any part of what you want or everything you want. That said, I will be trying to impress on Dinny McGinley, Aire na Gaeltachta, that part of the people of Clare are happy to speak Irish constantly and there is a need for measures to ensure that everything that we can do to restore it will be done,” Deputy Breen assured the meeting in Kilrush.
“The Government of Ireland is 100% behind the Irish language and the Gaeltacht or Irish-speaking areas. The preservation of the Irish language is important for the nation. The development of the Irish language is important to the nation. The extension of the Irish language is important to the nation,” he said earlier in his speech.
Coiste Forbartha Gaeltachta Cill Rois came together in 2007 to achieve Gaeltacht status for Clare, to restore Gaeltacht an Chláir in its entirety with assistance from the Government and the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and to achieve a statutory Gaeltacht Irish speaking area in Clare.
“As you know, the Government has a plan for the Irish language called the 20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language. Under this Plan, the Government has taken decisions, one of which is a plan to increase the number of daily Irish speakers to 200,000 within 20 years.
The Government also has a plan to increase to two million the number of people who have a knowledge of the Irish language. With the assistance of each of you, we will succeed in achieving some of those objectives  by degrees,” he added.