(Seo alt ónár bhfoireann Gaeltachta. Is féidir an bunleagan as Gaeilge a léamh anseo)

AFTER SIX MONTHS without a chairperson for the Gaeltacht joint committee in the Oireachtas Taoiseach Mícheál Martin has appointed a second chairperson to the committee within a fortnight.

It is Shane Moynihan, the Fianna Fáil TD from Dublin Mid-West who has been appointed as chair of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Irish Language, the Gaeltacht and the Irish Language  Community.  This appointment comes hot on the heels of  the appointment of hhis  party colleague from Kildare North, Naoise Ó Cearúil, who was confirmed in the role just two weeks ago after a lengthy period serving as acting chair.

Ó Cearúil had succeeded Catherine Connolly in the role but only six months after the former Galway West TD had been elected as Uachtarán na hÉireann last October.

The game of musical chairs among committee chairpersons began this week after Fianna Fáil TD Malcolm Byrne resigned from his chairpersonship of the Committee on Artificial Intelligence last week. The Wicklow Wexford TD had issued a statement saying he was stepping down ‘without prejudice’ to the legal process after he had been stopped and breathalysed by Gardai who had suspected him of driving under the influence of alcohol. 

Ó Cearúil has this week been appointed as chairperson of the Committee on Artificial Intelligence in succession to O’Byrne, and that left a vacancy to be filled on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Irish, the Gaeltacht and the Irish-Speaking Community.

Moynihan said he considered it a privilege to be nominated by the Taoiseach as chairperson of the Joint Committee. “Irish is an important part of my life and I am very much looking forward to working with my colleagues on the Joint Committee to promote Irish,” he said in a statement on his social media platforms.

Irish language organisations will be grateful that the wait for this appointment was not as long as it was for Ó Cearúil’s nomination. The reason for the initial delay was that no member of the Dáil grouping of independent left wing Tús of which President Connolly had been a member had sufficiently fluent Irish to fill the vacancy.

Speaking in Irish to The Journal, Moynihan said he had three priorities he wanted to shine a light on as he took up the role – more opportunities for families to access Irish-medium education for their children, innovative policies regarding Irish, and a greater focus on business through Irish.

“In the first instance we need to focus on making second-level and third-level education available through Irish,” he said, pointing out that the availability of Irish-medium secondary education was not on a par with what was available at primary level.

He said efforts could be made to convert existing schools into schools that would provide education through Irish, but he also said pressure would be applied on the Department of Education to fulfil its obligations.

“If necessary, legislation should be put in place – that is what needs to be done.”

The Minister for Education, Hildegarde Naughten, has said recently that the department has no plans to build any further all-Irish primary or secondary schools for five years, and it was recently revealed that the department had a deficit in excess of €600m.

“Building new schools is not the only solution to this problem,” he said. “We now have to look at how we can encourage schools to convert to all-Irish schools – do we need to think about that approach?

“We know there is strong demand for Irish-medium education and I think we need to sit down with the department to look at how this can be taken forward.”

Moynihan praised the innovative work being done by groups like Gaeilge 365 to promote the language in the capital, and said it was also important to demonstrate the benefits of bilingualism to businesses across the country.

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“My vision statement for the committee is how we can create a country in which a person who wants to live their life through Irish is able to do so.”

In his statement welcoming his appointment as chairperson of the Committee on Artificial Intelligence, Ó Cearúil said he would himself be continuing his membership of the Irish Language Joint Committee and would be continuing with specific policies he has regarding Irish-medium education.

The Journal’s Gaeltacht initiative is supported by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.

 This article was originally written in the reporter’s native Irish and has been translated to English here. AI was used as part of the translation process before final edits.