Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 12 December 2018
272. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the areas the €1.2 billion of culture, heritage and Irish language funding has been invested in to date (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52407/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraProject Ireland 2040 – the National Planning Framework and associated 10 year National Development Plan (NDP) – explicitly recognises that our culture, language and heritage are integral to the sustainable development of the country and underpins this recognition by a commitment to invest in excess of €1.2 billion in our culture, language and heritage over the next 10 years.
€54 million was allocated across these programme areas in 2018 as year one of this 10 year plan. The detailed break-out of the 2018 allocation is published in the Revised Estimates Volume for this year at www.per.gov.ie/wp-content/uploads/REV-2018-compressed.pdf.
€75 million is to be allocated across the programme areas in 2019 and the detailed break-out of allocations across programme areas will be made available in the soon to be published 2019 Revised Estimates. However, I can advise the Deputy that broadly speaking, €190 million will be available for culture; €80 million for our heritage including our waterways and €69 million for our language.
The break-out of the annual allocations for subsequent years will be determined having regard to the scheduling of delivery of projects and programmes in accordance with the outcome of the requisite appraisal and planning phases under the Public Spending Code.
I would draw the Deputy’s attention to the 20 Year Strategy for the Irish Language 2010-2030 and specifically to its associated Action Plan 2018-2022. Both of these documents are uploaded onto my Department’s website and provide the background to specific areas of Government investment in the Irish Language and the Gaeltacht. www.chg.gov.ie/gaeltacht.
Generally speaking, recruitment into the Civil Service is managed through the Public Appointments Service (PAS) www.publicjobs.ie and I am pleased to inform the Deputy that, as recently as last summer, PAS organised a competition for Clerical Officers in the civil service which was specifically targeted at potential candidates with a proficiency in the Irish language. In addition, the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) www.epso.europa.eu just recently ran a competition seeking 72 Irish language translators for permanent positions in the institutions of EU, while the European institutions also regularly announce the availability of temporary employment opportunities for Irish language linguists and maintain lists of potential applicants for that purpose.
As the Deputy may be aware, in line with the provisions of the Gaeltacht Act 2012, my Department, in partnership with both Údarás na Gaeltachta and Foras na Gaeilge, is currently rolling-out the language planning process in some 45 Gaeltacht Language Planning Areas, Gaeltacht Service Towns and Irish Language Networks, all of which will require the recruitment locally of Language Planning Officers over the next two years.
All of these initiatives are improving employment opportunities for Irish speakers and will continue to do so over the next number of years.
