€742,438 awarded for Irish Language Assistants Scheme for 2013/2014
August 27, 2013
Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dinny McGinley T.D., last week announced a grant of €742,438 for the 2013/2014 school year to run the Irish-Language Assistants Scheme.
This scheme, which was launched in 1999, focuses on enriching the level of Irish among students, and encouraging the use of the language as a default means of communication among the students. In April 2012, significant developments to the scheme were announced under the Family Language Support Programme as part of the 20 Year Strategy for the Irish Language. Under this scheme, 80 language assistants provide support services in 100 Gaeltacht schools.
For the 2013/2014 academic year, the grant will be divided between two organisations, Muintearas and Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne. Muintearas will hold responsibility for service provision in Gaeltacht schools in Galway, Mayo, Donegal and Meath, and Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne will assume the same responsibility for Gaeltacht schools in Kerry, Cork and Waterford.
This year’s allocation of funding sees the scheme reduce by 2.5% on last year’s figure of €762,378. As substantial changes were made to the scheme recently, last year’s figure represented an increase of over €150,000 on previous years. The increased funding allowed for further resources and greater contact hours with pupils.
‘Cluas sa Chlós’ (an ear in the yard), was a new initiative launched last year under the scheme to encourage the use of Irish outside of the classroom so that Irish would be the primary means of communication among students playing in the school yard. While the scheme previously focussed solely on the children in the school who did not have Irish, last year saw the introduction of supports for all pupils by providing extra contact hours to all schools located in areas where Irish is the primary language of the community.
Speaking on the announcement of the funding, Minister of State McGinley said: “When I launched that Programme in April 2012, I referred to the importance of an amended approach to the practical support of Gaeltacht families who are raising their children through Irish or who wish to do so. The grant announced today will enable the two organisations that administer the Irish-Language Assistants Scheme to continue to actively support the preservation and strengthening of the Irish language in the Gaeltacht.”
Foilsithe ar Gaelport.com
