Ní Riada to serve on Foras board
FORMER Sinn Féin MEP Liadh Ní Riada has been selected by the party for a role on the board of Foras na Gaeilge, a cross-border body established under the Good Friday Agreement to promote the Irish language.
Ms Ní Riada was eligible for nominated by Sinn Féin to be a Foras na Gaeilge board member by virtue of SF’s role on the Northern Ireland Executive.
Now employed as Oifigeach Pleanála Teanga/Language Planning Officer by Comharrchumann Forbartha Mhúscraí, Ms Ní Riada was one of four to be named as Foras na Gaeilge board members this week. Two other members of Sinn Féin were also nominated, while a member of the SDLP was also nominated by that party to take a seat at the board.
There are supposed to be eight nominees from the North, but Unionist parties have yet to name their members. The board of Foras na Gaeilge is normally 16 members strong, but it has been functioning with just eight members since 2015 due to ongoing difficulties between unionist and nationalist parties in Northern Ireland over Irish-language issues.
While Foras doesn’t have a direct role in supporting the Irish language in Gaeltacht areas such as Múscraí – this role is reserved for Údarás na Gaeltachta – it will have a role in administering a scheme to support the Irish language in ‘service towns’. Two of these are to be in Cork: one is Macroom and the other is Cork City.
The service town scheme will see towns such as Macroom get an annual grant of at least €70,000 to employ an Irish Language Officer and support schemes to promote the provision of services to Gaeltacht communities which use these towns to avail of public services.
While a number of meetings have taken place online during 2020, this process is expected to ramp up during 2021 in Macroom.