Údarás na Gaeltachta welcomes the announcement this afternoon by the Minister of State for Gaeltacht Affairs, Joe McHugh, T.D., that an additional €1 million in capital will be made available to Údarás’ budget in 2015. This will mean that close to €7 million will be available to Údarás in 2015 for its enterprise development and job creation activities in the Gaeltacht.
Anna Ní Ghallachair, Chairperson of Údarás, said that this is a big step forward, “This additional provision is a vote of confidence in Údarás and the important work it does to promote the development of the Gaeltacht. The tide has turned and the first step has been taken to increase Údarás’ budget, and this will help us to provide support to new strategic projects in 2015. I would like to thank the Minister of State, the board members and executives of An tÚdarás for their continuous work in recent times to bring the financial challenges faced by the organisation to the attention of the Minister of State and government Ministers. I am delighted that we have achieved this result and we will strive to ensure that this increase is sustained in future years in line with the recovery of the national economy and the level of new projects coming on stream in the Gaeltacht.”
Steve Ó Cúláin, Chief Executive of Údarás na Gaeltachta, said “We have been making a case for a number of years to bring Údarás’ capital, community development and language planning budget to a reasonable level in order to sustain and develop the Gaeltacht community. That process has now begun, and we are grateful to the Minister of State, Údarás’ executives, our Board members and the Government for this positive announcement for the Gaeltacht.