Conradh na Gaeilge worked with local community groups across Ireland to organise local action forums in every county in Ireland as part of the #GaelVóta campaign in the run-up to the general elections north and south this year.
Over 80 Irish-language and Gaeltacht groups, including community and all-Ireland organisations and their funding authorities, agreed an investment plan to create over 1,175 jobs and to provide more opportunities for people to use Irish. We also agreed on representative measures to ensure that the investment plan is acted upon, and that the Irish-language and Gaeltacht community are properly represented at Government level. These are the Irish-Language and Gaeltacht Commitments that form the basis of the #GaelVóta campaign.
Irish-Language & Gaeltacht Commitments
An 
all-Ireland investment plan has been agreed by over 80 Irish-language and Gaeltacht groups, including community and all-island organisations and their funding authorities, and the groups are looking for all political parties and representatives to officially pledge their support for the plan: http://bit.ly/pleaninfheistiochta
The community and all-Ireland organisations are also looking for representative commitments to ensure that the investment plan is acted upon, including the appointment of Senior Ministers north and south to act on behalf of the Irish language and the Gaeltacht and to ensure that the plan is well managed and implemented in full: http://bit.ly/beartaionadaiochta
Assembly Election (North): Thursday, 5 May 2016
Click here for a list of all the MLAs that support the #GaelVóta commitments
- An additional investment of £2.6 million in an Irish-languag e plan to expand the use of Irish and to create new jobs
- A Minister for Communities that is supportive of the Irish language and able to promote the wishes of Irish speakers (responsibility for the Irish language will transfer to the Communities Minister when the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure is abolished)
- A Minister for Education who supports Irish in the education system and who ensures the continued development of the Irish-medium education sector
Thanks to the huge community effort prior to the election, we managed to make an impression on the candidates, and now have 43 MLAs that support the three commitments of the Irish-language community elected to to the Assembly. This is a huge step forward as we can now argue that representatives from four parties support our commitments, and this means that the three commitments should be implemented. You will find contact details for all the MLAs supporting our commitments here and for your information, we have already contacted all 43 of them; we have also requested meetings with representatives from the four parties. It is far more important and effective, however, when the local community gets in touch so our sincerest thanks in advance for your help with this.
*******************************
Seanad Election (South): Tuesday, 26 April 2016 (postal vote)
Ensure your new Senators support the Irish-language & Gaeltacht commitments
*******************************
General Election (South): Friday, 26 February 2016
Contact your newly elected TDs
Click here for a list of all the TDs that support the #GaelVóta commitments
- An additional investment of €18 million in an Irish-language and Gaeltacht plan to expand the use of Irish and to create 1,175+ new jobs
- The appointment of a senior Minister for Irish and for the Gaeltacht, who has Irish, so that there is Irish language input at the Government table
- The establishment of a joint Oireachtas committee for the Irish language and Gaeltacht affairs of the same standing as other joint Oireachtas committees
We now have a majority of TDs elected to Dáil Éireann (84 TDs) that support the three main Irish-language and Gaeltacht commitments, thanks to the huge community effort prior to the election. This is a huge step forward for the Irish-language and Gaeltacht community as we can now legitimately argue that a majority of TDs support our commitments; this means that the three commitments should be implemented, regardless of how the final Government is formed. You will find contact details for all the TDs supporting our commitments here and for your information, we have already contacted all 84 of them. It is far more important and effective, however, when the local community gets in touch so our sincerest thanks in advance for your help with this.
Responses of Political Parties (North):
Click here for information on the responses from the political parties and their stance on the three main Irish-language commitments.
Responses of the Assembly Election Candidates (North):
Click on a constituency below to see the responses of that constituency's candidates as regards the commitments.
We recently organised action forum to discuss and promote these commitments.
Sinn Féin, SDLP, People Before Profit and Cross-Community Labour Alternative have officially pledged their support for the commitments as entire parties. Candidates and other parties still have time to pledge their support for the commitments before the Assembly election in the north on 5 May 2016.
* Contact was made with all candidates on at least two occasions as per the contact details that were publicly available. We apologise for any information that may be inaccurate as a result of this, or if any candidate has been left out.
** Any party or candidate can contact us at
*******************************
Responses of Political Parties (South):
Click here for the responses from the political parties.
You can find all references made by the political parties to the Irish language and the Gaeltacht in their manifestos here.
Responses of General Election Candidates (South):
Click on a constituency below to see the responses of that constituency\'s candidates as regards the commitments (you can also click here to see all candidates responses).
ConnachtGalway EastGalway WestMayoRoscommon – GalwaySligo – Leitrim
LeinsterDublin CentralDublin Mid–WestDublin FingalDublin North–WestDublin Bay NorthDublin RathdownDublin South–CentralDublin Bay SouthDublin South–WestDublin WestDún LaoghaireWicklowWexfordCarlow – KilkennyKildare NorthKildare SouthLongford-WestmeathLouthMeath EastMeath WestOffaly
MunsterLimerick CityLimerickClareTipperaryKerryWaterfordCork EastCork North–WestCork North–CentralCork South–CentralCork South–West
UlsterDonegalCavan – Monaghan
* Contact was made with all candidates on at least two occasions as per the contact details that were publicly available. We apologise for any information that may be inaccurate as a result of this, or if any candidate has been left out.
** Any party or candidate can contact us at
*******************************
Did you know?
- Nearly 2 million people on the island of Ireland have some proficiency in Irish
- Interest in Irish and the use of the language is continuously growing, especially amongst young people. For example, over 1 million people have recently listened to the famous celebrity Ed Sheeran singing in Irish
- The investment plan and the additional political structures that we are looking for will help achieve the vision for the Irish language as envisaged by the rebellion generation and will properly commemorate 1916
- The investment plan* proposed above will cater for the 93% of the population who support the revival or preservation of the Irish language (ESRI & NUI Maynooth, 2009) through:
- Providing an comprehensive programme of usage and learning
- Funding for Irish language centres in towns across the island
- Providing Gaeltacht scholarships for young people and families
- * N.B. The additional funding that is needed for the investment plan is €5 million less than the funding made available for the Irish language and the Gaeltacht in 2008
We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who worked so hard to promote these commitments for the Irish-language and Gaeltacht community these past few months. Buíochas ó chroí le gach duine agaibh - ní neart go cur le chéile!
Buíochas ó chroí le gach duine a rinne go leor oibre leis na héilimh seo ar son phobal na Gaeilge agus na Gaeltachta a chur chun cinn le cúpla mí anuas.
