Call for Cork City Council strategy to boost use of Irish language

Cork City Council has been urged to develop a strategy aimed at increasing the use of Irish following the publication of Census figures which showed there were 85,000 Irish speakers in the city.

According to Ballincollig-based local election candidate, Joe Lynch of Sinn Féin, the ‘incredible work’ of two local Gaelscoileanna and an Irish medium secondary school, Coláiste Choilm, means that the highest concentration of Irish speakers in Cork city is in the Cork City South West electoral area.

“Nearly 50% of residents here can speak Irish,” said the Sinn Féin candidate.

“This is testament to the incredible work of our local Gaelscoileanna over many decades.

"However, we need to see this success built on. In Ballincollig, we have two Gaelscoileanna and a Gaelcholáiste but virtually no outlets for adults to speak Irish outside of the education system.

“We need to see that addressed and Cork City Council has a key role to play.

"One of the key things I will be pressing for if elected to the City Council is the development of a strategy to increase the use of Irish in the city and for the Council to adequately provide services bilingually; something they are supposed to be doing, but consistently fail to provide."

During 2022, a café, shop and Irish language education centre on O’Sullivan’s Quay, which was run by local voluntary group, Gael-Taca, closed down.

While the Irish language appears to be growing in popularity in Cork and other urban areas, Mr Lynch expressed concern that the language was in decline in its traditional heartland areas, the Gaeltacht.

"The continued decline of daily speakers of the Irish language in Cork's Gaeltacht communities, detailed in new Census figures, is very concerning and points to what the experts have been saying - that the use of Irish as a community language faces an uphill battle for survival,” he said.

"The fact that the village of Béal Átha'n Ghaorthaidh, in the Muscraí Gaeltacht, has the highest proportion of Irish speakers in the country is a welcome exception."

Overall the Census results are a mixed bag.

The population of the Cork Gaeltacht, which includes the Múscraí community in mid-Cork and Oileán Cléire/Cape Clear off the coast of Baltimore, has increased from 3,932 in 2016 to 4,110 in 2022 and the number of people who say they are Irish speakers has increased from 2,872 to 2,942 in the same period.

At the same time, however, the proportion of daily Irish speakers has declined from 30.4% in 2016 to 28.8% in 2022.

According to a town-by-town analysis, the Cork Gaeltacht community of Béal Átha’n Ghaorthaidh had the highest proportion of Irish speakers in the country with 90% of its inhabitants declaring themselves to be able to speak Irish.

"It is clear that the era of Irish as a community language - even in the strongest Gaeltacht areas - could easily come to an end without strong action from central government,” said the Sinn Féin candidate.

“There is an urgent need to reinstate Sceim Labhartha na Gaeilge (the Irish Speaking Scheme) to encourage the use of Irish in Gaeltacht homes to help save our native tongue as a community language.” 

Scéim Labhartha na Gaeilge was a Government scheme which provided grants to Gaeltacht families whose children spoke Irish.

This was discontinued in 2011 as part of austerity-era cutbacks.