Foras na Gaeilge has begun a new campaign to introduce members of staff to the public. We would like to introduce Ursula Ní Shabhaois!

Area: Community and Business

Venue: Dublin

Role: I am the language planning coordinator and I work on the language planning process outside of the Gaeltacht. I work with Gaeltacht service towns and Irish language networks to prepare and implement Irish language plans.

What aspect of the work do you most enjoy?: I often meet with different groups in the Gaeltacht service towns and in the Irish language networks and I really enjoy dealing with these people and hearing about the progress made by committees throughout the country.

How does your work support the promotion of the Irish language?: There are great opportunities for areas where the language planning process is under way for promoting the Irish language. Language plans are created at community level and focus on the particular language needs of that area, including the strengths and weaknesses. This means that the language plans differ from each other and that committees can take the best benefit from the process in their own area.

What are the plans in your area in the future?: Soon we will be providing a lot of information to the public on the language planning process. There will be new material available to make people aware of the language planning process outside of the Gaeltacht and to make the public aware of the work undertaken by language planning committees. We would like to provide more opportunities to people to learn about the process and learn from groups currently engaged in the work.