The board of Foras na Gaeilge have had their first meeting since the start of the exceptional arrangements for Covid-19 on Friday 17 April. The meeting was held via video conferencing to facilitate members participating remotely. The arrangements made by the north south organisation since the St Patrick’s Day weekend were reported, when guidance came from the governments north and south that staff should not travel to the workplace if not necessary, and thereafter that the offices should be closed.

The five Foras na Gaeilge offices are now closed, including the Áis warehouse, which delivers Irish language books to book shops throughout the country and abroad. The cross-border body is working remotely and is now accepting applications for its various schemes via email.

€27,000 was approved for Oireachtas na Gaeilge at the meeting to run the competition for the three publishing prizes, the Réics Carló Prize for books for young people, the Ó Súilleabháin Prize for books for adults, and the de Bhaldraithe Prize for translations. There will be a total of €17,000 in the prize fund.

More than €185,000 was approved under the Foras na Gaeilge Summer Camps scheme for the eighty nine camps throughout the country.

“We will be keeping a keen eye on how the crisis is affecting the Irish language sector in general,” said Pól Ó Gallchóir, Chairperson, “especially for the various organisations that depend on us to survive, and we will be looking at how it will affect the Irish language activities which usually take place in the summer – summer camps, festivals and other events in the community.”

Foras na Gaeilge’s social media campaign, #LeChéile, will be announced in the coming days. #LeChéile provides online content to the public through Foras na Gaeilge’s social media channels to facilitate the use of Gaeilge at home.

Ends

Further information

Anna Davitt, Programme Manager: Communications, Marketing & Awareness, Foras na Gaeilge

Tel: 0035387 673 6175    

Email: adavitt@forasnagaeilge.ie