Gaeltacht worries

Gaeltachtaí in danger?

Study reveals that Achill, Belmullet and Tourmakeady could lose Gaeltacht status

Anton McNulty

A NEW study into the Irish language indicates that the population of the Mayo Gaeltachtaí could be cut to just over 2,000 people if the Government introduced new linguistic criteria – meaning that Achill, Belmullet and Tourmakeady would all lose their Gaeltacht status.
The criteria were set out in a detailed, two-year study entitled ‘A Comprehensive Linguistic Study of the Use of Irish in the Gaeltacht’, which was commissioned by the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs in 2004. In a recent study commissioned by TG4, GMIT Maths lecturer and Connemara-based Gaeltacht expert Donncha Ó hEallaithe revealed that the Mayo Gaeltachtaí would be dramatically reduced if these criteria were to be implemented, with only isolated areas retaining their Gaeltacht status.
Mr Ó hEallaithe told The Mayo News that he imposed the criteria from the linguistic study on data from the 2006 Census relating to the Irish language and from the Department of the Gaeltacht’s ‘Scéim Labhairt na Gaeilge’, for each of the 152 Gaeltacht electoral areas in the country. He explained that if the criteria were adopted by the Department of the Gaeltacht, the lack of spoken Irish on a daily basis in many Gaeltacht communities would leave ‘very little of Mayo remaining in the Gaeltacht’. He revealed that Ceathrú Thaidhg, Ros Dubhach, Eachléim in Erris and Fionnaithe in south Mayo would be the only communities to retain their Gaeltacht status.
“The current population of the Mayo Gaeltacht is 11,000 and that would be reduced to 2,500 if the criteria of the linguistic study were used. It would mean that Achill, Belmullet and Tourmakeady would lose their Gaeltacht status,” he said.
When asked if he would be fearful for the future of many of the Mayo Gaeltachtaí, Mr Ó hEallaithe said he would be – if immediate steps were not taken by these communities.
“The Irish language in Mayo is not yet dead but it is very close to it and they can basically say good-bye to it if something is not done to encourage people to speak it and use it as a community language. There is no point in people pretending they are a Gaeltacht community just for the sake of it. They are only fooling themselves if they think that they live in an Irish-speaking area just because they happen to live inside a boundary which was drawn up 40 years ago,” he said.
However, Mr Ó hEallaithe’s assertions about the level of Irish-speaking in the Mayo Gaeltachtaí were dismissed by promoters of the Irish language in these Gaeltacht communities. Belmullet-based representative of Údarás na Gaeltachta, Mr Ian McAndrew, told The Mayo News that huge strides have been made in the last number of years to promote the Irish language in everyday use and decreasing the size of the Gaeltacht would do nothing for the promotion of Irish.
“At the end of the day, it will be a ministerial decision whether we are taken out of the Gaeltacht. However, Minister [Éamon] Ó Cuív has often told us that if there is an effort to speak and promote Irish, we will continue to remain in the Gaeltacht, and the effort to promote Irish in Erris and Achill is clear to see. Nobody will benefit from a community losing its Gaeltacht status, and the only people who would be happy would be the far-right Irish speakers,” he said.
Last January, Minister Ó Cuív spoke at the opening of the new extension of Áras Forbairt Acla in Achill and outlined how he would like to see all of Achill Island given Gaeltacht status. A spokesperson for Comhlacht Forbartha Aitiuil Acla said the results of the study were very harsh and said that it would be a disaster for the island if Achill was to lose its Gaeltacht status.