The historic change in the make-up of councils in NI presents the Irish language community and the new councils with a number of challenges and opportunities. Foras na Gaeilge, as the statutory body charged with promoting the Irish language, welcomes the opportunity that this major change offers. We are happy to address the opportunities afforded by the change in partnership with both elected representatives and officials in each of the new councils, to support and develop their services for the Irish language community and to assist in their fulfilling the provisions of Part 3 of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

To this end, Foras na Gaeilge has compiled this guide to support both elected representatives and council officials as they create and configure strategies and policies. The aim of the guide is to support councils to develop the Irish language in their council areas, to support them to deliver services through Irish, and to support the councils to develop their own capacity to provide services in Irish.

Download the guidance document here.