Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 March 2022
301. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the details of the support provided to Foras na Gaeilge to assist with the ongoing Focloir.ie project; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10973/22]
View answerLexicography is specifically mentioned as a pillar of the 20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language 2010-2030. The English-Irish online dictionary, foclóir.ie, has over 2.5 million users in Ireland and worldwide annually. The hard-copy Concise English-Irish Dictionary, first published in the autumn of 2020 has already sold over 8,000 copies in the first year and a second edition was printed at the end of 2021.
The Board of Foras na Gaeilge has approved a business plan for a new lexicography project which will cost €2.5m over a 5 year period and will produce two online dictionaries : Irish-Irish and Irish-English.
Based on the priority provided to the lexicography pillar of the 20 Year Strategy and the success of the new English-Irish Dictionary, I recently approved an allocation of €365,000 from my Department's own resources towards this project for 2022. I understand that the Department of Education will also be making a further allocation of €50,000 per annum towards the project and that the remainder of the cost will come from Foras na Gaeilge’s baseline budget.
These new dictionaries, as well as implementing the 20-Year Strategy goals, will place the Irish language on a par with other European languages as regards lexicography provision.
