HEATHER HUMPHREYS HAS recommitted to learning Irish, 11 years after first making this pledge.

In 2014, Humphreys became the Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht Minister, but faced criticism due to her lack of Irish.

At the time, the Fine Gael presidential nominee said she hoped to “squeeze in” some Irish lessons.

During this evening’s presidential debate on RTÉ Radio 1’s Drivetime, Humphreys was grilled about her about her previous failed pledge to learn Irish by presenter Cormac Ó hEadhra, who himself is a gaeilgeoir.

Humphreys said she learned Irish at school and passed her Leaving Cert exam but that she wished she could speak more. 

“Like a lot of people, what happened was, I went into the world of work,” said Humphreys.

“I didn’t have the opportunity to use Irish and if you don’t use it, you lose it.”

She added that she had spent time in the Gaeltacht in Donegal during her time as Gaeltacht Minister and that her Irish “was coming back to me”.

However, Humphreys then remarked that she moved into the Department of Business and added: “I was dealing with Brexit, I was dealing with the pandemic, I genuinely didn’t have time to learn this.”

When it was noted that Joe McHugh had been able to learn Irish, Humphreys said that he is “an example of how others can do the same, as I will do.”

McHugh was named as junior minister in the Department in 2014 and had specific responsibility for Gaeltacht Affairs – he too lacked command of the Irish language.

But while he quickly set about learning Irish, Humphreys today said she was too busy to begin Irish lessons and that she hoped to “squeeze” it in at “some stage”.

McHugh would go on to become fluent in Irish and even wrote a book about it titled ‘Beidh Tú Alright: An Irish Language Journey’.

“I am committed to learning Irish, or refreshing my Irish, and I can actually write very good Irish,” added Humphreys.

She remarked that it is spoken Irish that she struggles with and said: “Like many people, I’m concerned that I’m going to use the wrong words in the wrong place and sound foolish

“But I’m committed to the Irish language, I commit to returning to the Gaeltacht, like Mary McAleese did, and learning Irish.”

During her time as Gaeltacht Minister, Humphreys also declined to meet with Irish language organisations such as Conradh na Gaeilge and Údarás na Gaeltachta.

She had argued that such meetings were under the remit of the junior minister.