CONRADH NA GAEILGE has called on governments north and south of the border to urgently address funding cuts to the body responsible for promoting the Irish language in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. 

Conradh na Gaeilge said if was made aware of a €817,945 funding cut for Foras na Gaeilge yesterday morning. 

“Conradh na Gaeilge is bitterly disappointed with the news that reached us just yesterday morning informing Irish language groups that widespread funding cuts had been agreed by Foras na Gaeilge,” said Conradh na Gaeilge president Paula Melvin.

She said the cuts are to be implemented “at a time where local groups are already experiencing a longstanding funding crisis,” and that the new cuts raise “fundamental questions about the ability and viability of Foras na Gaeilge to facilitate the provision of effective funding for the Irish language”.

Melvin called on both governments to intervene, saying “they retain the power to resolve the situation very quickly”.

Melvin also said that Conradh na Gaeilge has been contacted by numerous Irish language communities and groups across Ireland “who are rightly worried and concerned about the future of their projects and their staff”.

“Before this latest announcement, those groups have made consistent representations north and south calling for adequate funding to allow them to pay staff, rent offices and heat their premises.”

Julian de Spáinn, Ard-Rúnaí for Conradh na Gaeilge, said: 

“These cuts will heap even further pressure onto groups who cannot support their own basic financial demands and are in contravention of the core principles and vision of the Good Friday Agreement to support and develop the language.”

De Spáinn also said the organisation believes that “all groups deserve clarity on where this €817,945 shortfall has come from and why we were not given any previous warning about the scenario that emerged on Friday”.

“It is abundantly clear to us that Foras na Gaeilge is broken and no longer viable as an effective funding structure capable of facilitating the provision of adequate funds from both Governments under the current funding model, a model that has once more left those on the ground with even less than before.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Rural and Community Development said a final decision on the 2025 budget has not yet been made and that a final announcement would come in the spring. 

“The issue of funding of the North South Implementation Bodies is being discussed by the Departments of Finance and sponsor Departments in both jurisdictions,” the spokesperson said. 

The Republic of Ireland provides 75% of the funding for the North-South Language Body, including Foras na Gaeilge. 

The Department spokesperson said: “While additional monies have been available in this Department’s budget in recent years (including 2025), co-funding according to the funding ratio is required from the Department for Communities (NI) before any increase in the Body’s budget can be made.”

The Department also said it has made arrangements in recent years to “significantly invest in specific initiatives by Foras na Gaeilge and its lead organisations to help alleviate some of these financial challenges”.