RADICAL LEGISLATION to restructure Gaeltacht areas and save the Irish language from extinction has been introduced in the Dáil after its controversial passage through the Seanad.

Minister of State Dinny McGinley said the Gaeltacht Bill’s two main objectives were to establish a language planning process to support Irish and to amend the board and functions of Údarás na Gaeltachta, the local authority for Irish language-speaking areas. He pointed to stark census figures that “just 24 per cent of the Gaeltacht’s population or 23,175 people are using Irish on a daily basis”. The Minister said this showed the “vulnerable status of the Irish language” in those areas.

But Opposition TDs criticised the lack of time given to the Bill when it was the first such legislation since the 1950s. They also expressed concern that it was not sufficient for the challenges facing the language, particularly in traditional Irish-speaking areas.

The legislation abolishes elections to the Údarás, reduces the number of members on its board from 20 to 12 with a majority of seven chosen by the Minister. The remaining five members will be chosen by county councils, one each from the Donegal, Mayo, Galway and Kerry Gaeltacht areas with the remaining place shared on a rotation basis of two years between the Cork, Waterford and Meath Gaeltachts.

The Bill also provides for language plans to be prepared by the 19 areas currently within the Gaeltacht but including locations where Irish is not as strong. The Bill also gives the Minister power to remove areas from the Gaeltacht, and consequent Gaeltacht funding, if communities do not participate in the process or implement the language plan satisfactorily.

Fianna Fáil Gaeltacht affairs spokesman Michael Kitt said Irish language organisations were not in favour of the Bill and he called for it to be withdrawn and redrafted to focus on areas where the language is stronger.

Fianna Fáil Mayo TD Dara Calleary said of the way the language is spoken that “the emphasis on grammar has done terrible damage to the language.

“It’s not medicine we’re trying to give the people. It’s our native language and we should celebrate it.”

Sinn Féin’s Aengus Ó Snodaigh said instead of pushing the Bill through in the next week, it could go into September.