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

THE GAELTACHTS YOUNGER generation raised its voice both outside the gates of Leinster House and inside Committee Room Number 3 in the inner basement of the Houses of the Oireachtas as Seachtain na Gaeilge began in earnest at the national parliament today.

Seachtain na Gaeilge is a time of year when politicians talk about the time they spent in their youth learning ‘cúpla focail’ on Summer courses in the Gaeltacht – but today they had to listen to the voice of the Gaeltacht, young people who hope they have a future in the Gaeltacht but are not entirely confident that this is possible if the Government doesn’t act as a matter of urgency.

A delegation of young people, a woman from County Meath, another woman from Belfast and a young man from Árainn/the Aran Islands, and supported by all-island Irish language advocacy organisation, Conradh na Gaeilge, gave compelling and stark evidence and a precise insight into the challenges they face to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Gaeltacht, the Irish Language and the Irish-Speaking Community this morning.

And the same message was heard inside and outside – if the Government wants to support the Gaeltacht, they must do more than token gestures, they must support housing in the Gaeltacht and do so systemically.

Luc Ó Floinn  gave an insight into the difficulties that exist on the famous islands off the coast of Galway due to the lack of housing.

“It is really difficult to find a place to live on Árainn because of planning permission and I have seen over the years the damage it does,” he said.

“Teachers, electricians, fishermen, jobs that we desperately need, all gone from the island because people can’t build a house.

“People with young children trying to settle in Árainn, trying to build a house on their ancestral land.”

He included relatives, a couple and three children, with a successful seaweed business, who were unsuccessful in getting planning permission.

“That’s three children gone from the island, children who were raised with Irish, who are gone from their friends and their families.”

The housing crisis in the Gaeltacht brought a crowd to the gates of the Dáil to make a musical protest for urgent action from the Minister for Housing. Conradh na Gaeilge’s advocacy manager, John Prendergast, briefly outlined the crowd’s demands.

“In 2021 planning guidelines for the Gaeltacht were promised, we still don’t have them,” he said. “It has now been said that they will not be available until 2027 – they are needed today.”

“Gaeltacht gan tithíocht, Gaeltacht gan Útíði,” was the battle cry he elicited from the crowd before they launched into a verse of Óró ‘Sé do Beheatha Abhaile.

In the afternoon there will be a Dáil debate during private members’ time on the issue of housing, a motion proposed by Sinn Féin.

The Gaeltacht community – and the Irish language in general – has found its voice and, as the late Conamara writer Máirtín Ó Cadhain said, ‘caithfear éisteach/it must be listened to!’.

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