I have been endeavouring for a number of weeks to raise the question of granting recognition to the Baile an Lochaigh portion of Coláiste Pheig Sayers in Ballyferriter. It would have been coincidental had it been allowed last week because the Minister, in his wisdom, saw fit to recognise the college on a temporary basis last Thursday or Friday as a result of which there were great celebrations down in Ballyferriter which included bonfires, dances, craic agus féastaí of all kinds until the early hours of the morning. It would have been a major achievement for me if this had been on last week because no doubt the people would have said it was because of my motion on the Adjournment that this came about.
Nevertheless, it gives me the opportunity to thank the Minister for allowing temporary recognition of the Baile an Lochaigh portion of Coláiste Pheig Sayers. I think it was a wise decision. I hope the Minister will see fit to grant full recognition to this college next year.
This college was built on the promise of a previous Minister. The people involved expended a large amount of their own money on the building. They went ahead in good faith only to be told later that no such promise was ever made. I am glad the present Minister has seen fit to recognise the college. The school will be a major boost to the local economy because the large number of students who will travel to the area will stay with local families and that is welcomed by these people. It will also facilitate the students who have to travel a long distance from the Baile an Lochaigh area to Ballyferriter. Now these young people will be facilitated in Baile an Lochaigh.
I would also like to mention here that the management of Coláiste Pheig Sayers in Ballyferriter and now in Baile an Lochaigh must be complimented on their initiative. Recently I visited Dún Chaoin and I was delighted to see these very same people restoring the house of Peig Sayers, the very house she first occupied when she came off the Great Blasket Island. I was most impressed by this initiative. The house will be restored and furnished as it was in Peig Sayers's time. These people are making a major contribution to the local economy and to the Irish language. In the end it is the Irish language, the students who visit Baile an Lochaigh and Ballyferriter and the people of the area who will be the winners.
I thank the Minister and ask him to monitor and evaluate the progress of this college over the summer and, if possible, grant it full recognition in 1993.