Cáinaisnéis 2026 | GNÍOMH.IE

This campaign is now over. During the month of September 2025, 1015 of you used this tool to engage with politicians to demand equality for the Irish language and the Gaeltacht in Budget 2026. The Budget has achieved a number of positive things:

An additional €28.4 million was provided for the Irish language and the Gaeltacht in Budget 2026, reflecting the positive outcome of ongoing campaigning and the difference that having a senior Minister can make.

That said, there are still major shortcomings:

The €2 million mentioned to Foras na Gaeilge is not enough to solve the problems funded by Irish language organisations across the country that are funded through Foras na Gaeilge;
If the north-south funding structure is not resolved, this money cannot be used through Foras na Gaeilge itself, leaving Foras na Gaeilge at risk of cuts to language organisations again.

There is still a lot of work to be done. Keep an eye out for the next action...

This campaign is now over..

There has never been adequate ambition or prioritisation of the Irish language and the Gaeltacht in state spending, north or south.

Only 0.10% of state expenditure in the south is spent on Irish language and Gaeltacht schemes through the Department of the Gaeltacht (which includes expenditure by the Department of the Gaeltacht, Údarás na Gaeltachta and Foras na Gaeilge). Matters are even worse in the north, where baseline funding for the Irish comes to roughly 0.024% of state expenditure.

Budget Day 2026 is fast approaching in the south, and we are looking for equality for our language. We need your help to impress upon the government that the public wants fair and appropriate funding for the Irish language and the Gaeltacht.

Fill in your details below and an email will be sent on your behalf to: the Minister for Finance Paschal Donohue, Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers, Minister for the Gaeltacht Dara Calleary and Minister for Culture and Communications Patrick O’Donovan. Your local TDs will be CCd.

Your name:

Your email address:

if you wish, choose a dialect for the email:

Select your constituency:

The email text:

A Airí, a chairde,

I’m contacting you today in relation to Budget 2026, calling on you to ensure equality in Irish language and Gaeltacht funding.

It is clear from a glance at the figures over the years that there has never been adequate ambition or prioritisation of the Irish language and the Gaeltacht in the State. Since 2014, only 0.1% of state expenditure in the south has been spent on Irish language and Gaeltacht schemes through the Department of the Gaeltacht. Funding both within and outside of the Gaeltacht is in a poor state:

In 2003, Foras na Gaeilge, the cross-border body responsible for the promotion of the Irish language all over Ireland, had a budget of €17.2m. In 2024, they had a budget of €17.5m. With inflation taken into account, Foras na Gaeilge has 45% less funding now than it had 20 years ago - despite the fact that the number of community groups that are to be funded by the organisation has expanded hugely over the same period.

In contrast to the predicament of the Foras, the budget of the Arts Council, another state body that does similar work, has increased exponentially: in 2025, the Arts Council will receive funding of €140m from the government. Arts Council funding this year is 8 times greater than the funding that Foras na Gaeilge will receive. 20 years ago, this gap was 2.5 times the amount of the funding.

In the Gaeltacht, the handful of areas where the Irish language still survives as the spoken language of the community are being depopulated by the lack of housing. Schools are closing due to young couples and families being forced out of the area due to scarcity of housing, and sports clubs are struggling to field underage teams because they don’t have the numbers.

The effects of this crisis are evident in the Census figures too, which show that Irish in the Gaeltacht is being steadily eroded: between 2011 and 2022, there was a 12.8% decrease in the number of daily Irish speakers in the Gaeltacht.

I ask that this scarcity of funding and lack of support for the Irish language and the Gaeltacht be put to rights in Budget 2026. Funding needs have been identified by 130+ Irish language, Gaeltacht and other groups in the Plean Fáis, and I support their call:

That an additional €55m be allocated to the Irish language and the Gaeltacht in Budget 2026.

Included in this additional funding is:

€24.5m more to Údarás na Gaeltachta & the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht for investment in the Gaeltacht
€19.3m more for Foras na Gaeilge and the Department of Gaeltacht for investment and support outside the Gaeltacht
An additional €11.2m for the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport

A breakdown and explanation of this funding is available here and I urge you to consider this as you prepare your estimates.

On Saturday 20 September in Dublin, thousands took to the streets for CEARTA: National Protest for the Irish language and the Gaeltacht, standing up for our future, for our community, and for our rights. I support them. Now is the time for proper investment in the Irish language and the Gaeltacht.

Le meas,

[your name]

[your email address]

[your constituency]

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