Coimisiún na Gaeltachta

This was established to make recommendations to the (Irish) Government regarding the implementation of a plan that would ensure the survival of the Irish language in the Gaeltacht, and that would strengthen its role as the public vernacular. Its work included: "Collating and presenting to the Government public opinion regarding the Gaeltacht, using public meetings and submissions". Its report and the findings of research it commissioned are now available to download at:

http://www.pobail.ie/en/AnGhaeltacht/TuarascailChoimisiunnaGaeltachta/

(the website for the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs). This is the correct URL for the English language version. For the original Irish language text, select the Gaeilge option from the navigation bar.

The report was originally due out in the second half of 2001, but was delayed over six months and then issued immediately following the May 2002 general election. It seems obvious that the delay was for political reasons. Possibly An Coimisiún was conscious of the fact that its proposals for redrawing Gaeltacht boundaries would arouse opposition, and did not want them to become an issue in the general election. It is also possible that they produced more than one draft of their report, on the theory that their recommendations would have to be acceptable to the incoming government if they were to stand any chance of being implemented. The results of the election were, on paper at least, good for the Irish language. All three parties which made gains had favourable policies.

The report is disappointing and inadequate. The following issues were completely ignored:

• The demand for a fair share of public sector jobs to be allocated to Irish-speakers living in the Gaeltacht
• The urgent necessity to halt the migration of English-speakers into the Gaeltacht
• The requirement for an Irish-speaking urban area
• The need for some Irish speakers who are not fully fluent in English

The sole issue which was dealt with, albeit the most important one, was the need for the Irish state to stop discriminating against the Irish language in the provision of services. The report does recommend that organisations providing government services in the Gaeltacht should always do so in Irish when that is the preferred language of the customer. It also says that Irish should be the normal working language of such organisations. However, it does not agree with the need for them to have a separate career structure from the rest of the public service.

An Coimisiún regarded their most important task as defining the correct implementation structure to carry out detailed planning and ensure the correct measures are carried out.

This isn't the first government commission to look into ways to maintain or revive Irish. The recommendations of the 1926 Coimisiún na Gaeltachta were ignored. In 1963 there was the Government Commission on the Restoration of Irish. I don't know what its recommendations were, or whether they were implemented, but we do know that the language has declined still further since then.

I shall be making further updates to this page in the near future, as and when time allows me to study the report in detail.