FUNDING cuts by all-Ireland agency Foras na Gaeilge has left Irish language groups in Belfast uncertain about future projects.
Foras na Gaeilge was set up in 1999 as a result of the Good Friday Agreement to promote the Irish language. Cultural organisation Conradh na Gaeilge say the cuts amount to over €800,000 and believe that both governments have critically failed to fund a viable cross-border body for the Irish language and called into question the future of Foras na Gaeilge.
President of Conradh na Gaeilge Paula Melvin said she is "bitterly disappointed with the news" that "widespread funding cuts had been agreed by Foras na Gaeilge".
"These cuts are to be implemented at a time where local groups are already experiencing a longstanding funding crisis, a crisis which has and once again raises fundamental questions about the ability and viability of Foras na Gaeilge to facilitate the provision of effective funding for the Irish language, questions that will grow undeniably louder unless both Governments intervene and address Friday’s cuts.
“We understood that both Finance Departments, and subsequently both Governments, were on the verge of agreeing a new north-south funding framework to facilitate funding increases for the cross-border bodies. We now understand that those framework proposals have encountered political frustration and delay.
"We are calling on both Governments to work together to resolve that stalemate. They have proceeded, for over two decades, over the continued disinvestment in Foras na Gaeilge and whilst this is ultimately a problem of their own making, they retain the power to resolve the situation very quickly.”
She said Conradh na Gaeilge has been contacted by numerous Irish language communities and groups right across Ireland who are concerned about the future of their projects and their staff.
"Before this latest announcement, those groups have made consistent representations north and south calling for adequate funding to allow them to pay staff, rent offices and heat their premises. These cuts make those financial circumstances even worse. Conradh na Gaeilge will do all we can to fight against these cuts and to call on both Governments to ensure a permanent solution to a longstanding funding problem is finally agreed.”
