CHAPTER 13 – The Galway Gaeltacht and Islands. 

GA 2                      Development of Language Plans

Support the development and implementation of language plans in Gaeltacht Language Planning Areas, Gaeltacht Service Towns and Irish Language Networks.

GA 3                      Support the Statutory Development Agencies

Support all of the statutory development agencies, especially Údarás na Gaeltachta, to achieve sustainable development in the Galway Gaeltacht while protecting and promoting the Irish language as the first community language of the area.

Proposed amendment or inclusion:

Galway County Council acknowledges that approximately two-thirds of the Connemara area is within Special Areas of Conservation and other environmental designations.  It is accepted that this extensive area of conservation is making it inordinately difficult, in many instances, for the attainment of planning permission for both dwellings and industrial and commercial developments. While Galway County Council fully supports the protection of the environment, it is also has the strengthening of rural and Gaeltacht areas as a central objective.

Galway County Council shall seek to open discussions with the Department of the Gaeltacht, Tourism, Culture, Arts and Sports with a view to lessening the impact of Special Areas of Conservation, and other environmental designations, on the construction of essential housing and industrial and commercial developments that create employment in rural and Gaeltacht areas in the County, with the objective of ensuring the viability of rural and Gaeltacht areas.

Galway County Council shall look favourably on applying the principle of de minimus as regards SACs in instances where either housing and/or industrial and commercial developments, that are essential to the viability of rural and Gaeltacht areas, extend onto small sections of SACs. 

Galway County Council acknowledges that this is a bilingual County in relation to the official languages of the Republic of Ireland.  The preservation and fostering of the Irish language is a primary objective of Galway County Council and it is equally acknowledged that our commitment to the language must be underpinned by the development of infrastructure in the Gaeltacht areas of this county; this is a core policy in relation to the Gaeltacht.   

Galway County Council, while abiding with its total commitment to the preservation and fostering of the Irish language in its area of remit, acknowledges that practical measures are urgently needed to strengthen the economic and social fabric of Gaeltacht communities, particularly in peripheral area.  A continuous decline in the population in some of those areas, allied to high unemployment and emigration, is acknowledged to be a huge threat to some Gaeltacht communities, and consequently a threat to the status of the Irish language in this county and this country.

Galway County Council recognizes that a number of areas in the County have shown a continual decline in their socio-economic status as highlighted in successive Census.  The South West Connemara Gaeltacht is a prime example of that decline as shown in Galway County Council publications based on examinations of Census reports.  The continuing decline in population, employment opportunities, and the resultant demographic imbalance in South West Connemara, poses a threat to the bedrock of the Irish language. 

Galway County Council strongly supports the implementation of the Údarás na Gaeltachta 5 Year Plan for the Carna/Cill Chiaráin area, the benefits of which would also accrue to surrounding communities.

Galway County Council supports the development of Páirc na Mara on the site chosen by Údarás na Gaeltacht in Cill Chiaráin and recognize it as an innovative project in utilizing the marine sector for the benefit of the community and acknowledges this to be a project which has the potential to be of national and international significance.

Galway County Council will continue to lend its practical help to Údarás na Gaeltachta 5 Year Development Plan for the Carna/Cill Chiaráin and west Connemara Gaeltacht area through actions such as the development of the R. 340 and the upgrading of infrastructure in the local villages of Cill Chiaráin and Carna.  It is recognized by Galway County Council that those villages are in need of public sewerage schemes and this matter will be stressed in contacts with Irish Water.