The Mayo News

The whole of Achill Island needs to have Gaeltacht status for the future development of the island.
Achill’s ‘Plean Gaeilge’ aims for all-island Gaeltacht status

Anton McNulty

THE need for the whole of the island of Achill to have Gaeltacht status is paramount to the future development of the island, according to the Cathaoirleach of Comhlacht Forbartha Áitiúil Acla, Tomas Mac Sheáin.
Last week, CFÁA launched ‘Plean Gaeilge’, in which they outlined their aims in increasing the use of the Irish language in everyday life in the community, and in looking to having the whole island categorised as a Gaeltacht area by 2011.
The plan was officially launched by Uinseann Mac Thomáis from Roinn na Gaeltachta and took place in Coláiste Acla in Dooega in the presence of nearly 300 Irish language students from all over Ireland. Before the launch, students from the coláiste entertained the guests with traditional music, singing and dancing.
In his address, Mr Uinseann Mac Thomáis said that implementing the Plean Gaeilge would not be easy but said that people of all ages in Achill had to ask themselves what they each could do to improve spoken Irish in the community.
Following the launch, Mr Mac Sheáin admitted to The Mayo News that many aspects of the plan were optimistic and they were facing a huge challenge. However, he said there was a renaissance in the interest in Irish among young and old on the island and they had to build on that optimism.
“Implementing the aims of Plean Gaeilge is a huge challenge, which will depend on the co-operation and support of the different age groups and the business people for it to succeed. The one thing that has stunted the development of Achill through the years was the creation of two cultural areas – the Gaeltacht and non-Gaeltacht regions. It is a policy of CFÁA that Achill should be looked at as one area and not have one area discriminated from the other. We know the plan is optimistic and the status of the current Gaeltacht area is not secure but we have to aim high and build on our work over the next three years,” he said.
In researching the plan, CFÁA circulated questionnaires among different age groups in the community, which revealed that Irish was mostly spoken among young people in national school but was not spoken in the play ground. The majority of people revealed that Irish was still important to them but English was the language spoken in the home.
Mr Mac Sheáin explained that the fact that 40 people had completed a two-year diploma course in Irish from NUI Galway showed there was still an interest in the language, but the next challenge was to provide an environment where people would feel comfortable speaking it in public.
“There is a huge growth in the interest of Irish in the last number of years and parents want to learn it. The attitude towards the language has changed since I started teaching 40 years ago when the young people were emigrating. Parents now know how important it is to their children and it is not just happening in Achill, it is happening all over Ireland. We have a youth club every Saturday from September until Easter where everything is done through Irish. What we have to do is create a situation where the young people can use the language outside the classroom in everyday life.  It’s a challenge we must work to meet.”

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