Funding cut is ‘death blow’ to Gaelic’s survival
◆ Reduction in Government support threatens future of the language in its heartlands, reports Alison Campsie
A‘death blow’ has been served to the survival of Gaelic as a living language as hundreds of thousands of pounds are cut from budgets set aside to protect and promote it. The Scottish Government will reportedly cut £354,000 from Bòrd na Gàidhlig this year with MG Alba, which funds programme making for BBC Alba and other Gaelic platforms, having “huge concern” over its budget settlement, given its £13 million annual funding had lost 50 per cent of value over the past decade.
The cuts at Bòrd na Gàidhlig have been heavily criticised by Gaelic campaigners given much of the money was used to fund Gaelic development officers to strengthen the language at community level. The cuts come four years after academics warned of a ‘Gaelic crisis’ in the vernacular communities, chiefly found in the Western Isles, Skye and Tiree, with forecasts the language would die out within 10 years if policy was not realigned into the heartlands.
Martainn Mac A’bhaillidh, leader of the Gaelic campaign group Misneachd, condemned the cuts to community development work in light of the 2020 forecasts.
He said: “Essentially this is a death blow to Gaelic as a living language as spoken in the communities.
“We understand there are pressures but if we are in any way serious about maintaining Gaelic as part of Scotland’s cultural heritage, it is now or never. This is not something we can say ‘we can cut this just now and maybe in a couple of years we can look at it’ – it is life or death. The language is on its death bed.”
He added: “It is this SNP government that needs to do something about it. It is going to be on their heads if this is going to be the last time that you see Gaelic as a spoken vernacular in Scotland.”
When the Gaelic Officer fund opened in 2022, the original budget of £250,000 was doubled given demand with development officers created across the islands as well as in Edinburgh and Argyll. Now, the future of at least 21 positions looks uncertain.
The core budget of Bòrd na Gàidhlig will stay roughly the same at around £5.1m, it is understood, once the funding stream for development officers has been removed.
John Morrison, chair of MG ALBA, said its £13m budget from the Scottish
Government had lost significant value and had been effectively “frozen” for a decade.
He said: “Gaelic has enjoyed widespread public and political support over many years which has helped the language make a very significant contribution to cultural life. Investment in Gaelic is just that – an investment. From our own perspective at MG ALBA, for every £1 of investment, we have generated a return of £1.34 and created more than 340 jobs – nearly 200 of them in the Highlands and the Western Isles.
“So, funding for MG ALBA is not a handout. Our annual budget of £13m from the Scottish Government has been effectively frozen for 10 years which means that very soon its value will be diminished by 50 per cent since the launch of BBC ALBA. Anything that reduces the development of talent, skills and the Gaelic language, especially amongst young people, is of huge concern.”
Around 58,000 people across Scotland speak Gaelic – around 1.1 per cent of the population – with the language classed as “definitely endangered” by UNESCO.
The loss of funding comes as a new Scottish Language Bill, which aims to give official status to Scots and Gaelic and reinforce their use in education and public life, is in its early stages in parliament. The bill also proposes the creation of “areas of linguistic significance” that will attract further support to sustain use of Gaelic and increase opportunities for learning while linking these to social and economic issues.
Local authorities can apply for designation if at least 20 per cent of the area’s population has Gaelic language skills, the area has a historical connection with Gaelic or the area hosts Gaelic education or other significant Gaelic activity.
Professor Conchúr Ó Giollagáin, of the Language Sciences Institute at the University of Highlands and Islands, a co-author of the Gaelic Crisis in the Vernacular Communities in 2020, said the bill, while in its early stages, “lacked vision” and was not focused enough on sustaining the language in its heartlands.
The creation of the “areas of linguistic significance” was an idea borrowed from Wales, where issues facing the Welsh language are less acute than those facing Scottish Gaelic, he added.
Of the criteria for the new areas, he said: “These are all very laudable but you could argue that covers all of Scotland probably with the exception of Orkney and Shetland. The social geography of
It is this SNP government that needs to do something about it Martainn Mac A’bhaillidh
Gaelic is nearly all of the landmass of Scotland, except for the Northern Isles
“The approach now is to be national and we are not sure how the vernacular crisis is going to be prioritised. If you want to give a minority language national status it is important in this new legislation to demonstrate how it is going to be relevant to a broad spectrum of the population. But I think it is reasonable to prioritise effort and resource when the last remaining vernacular communities are on the point of collapse, as we know they are.”
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said it would “continue to engage with stakeholders” as the bill makes its way through the parliamentary process.” It could not comment on budget allocations for individual organisations at present.