Add language conditions to Cork Gaeltacht planning approvals – Cllr

By Peter McCarthy, Corkman

A Macroom Councillor has called on Cork County Council to include Irish language conditions as part of the planning permission approvals granted to housing developments built within the county’s Gaeltacht areas.

Cllr Gobnait Moynihan made the call at this week’s meeting of Cork County Council as the councillors considered the Chief Executive's report on a proposed housing development in the West Cork village of Ballyvourney.

“This housing development is in Ballyvourney and that's in the Gaeltacht. A Gaeltacht is only there because people speak Irish on a daily basis. If the level of Irish isn't kept, then the status can be gone like that or the boundary of the Gaeltacht can be cut in half. So it's very important,” Cllr Moynihan said.

“The problem I have with it [the proposed development] is that there's no language conditions on the planning. A language condition is that you would put a certain percentage of these houses aside for people who speak Irish on a daily basis.”

The Fianna Fáil Councillor said the requirement for Councils to put language conditions in place in Gaeltacht areas came into effect back in 2000: “This is not something new, this is something that's happening all around the country and all the other Gaeltachts, except in Cork County Council.”

Cllr Gearoid Murphy supported Cllr Moynihan's call: "Unfortunately, we are, as far as I'm aware, the only local authority that doesn't have specific language surrounding Gaeltacht and Irish language requirements in relation to multi-residence developments in the Gaeltacht. And I think that's something that we need to look at remedying as a matter of urgency."

Cllr Michael Creed said that when the Macroom Municipal District was briefed on the proposed development in Ballyvourney, “we got a commitment from the people that were at the meeting that they would seriously consider native Irish speakers.”

Responding to Cllr Moynihan’s call, Cork County Council Chief Executive Moira Murrell said that language conditions in relation to planning permission would need to be specified within the County Development Plan.

“It would require a specific percentage being assigned within the plan to a particular part of the Gaeltacht that would say that X percent of houses built in this area, public or private, would be allocated for Irish speakers,” she said.

The Chief Executive said she will come back to the Council with information on how best to alter the County Development Plan so that it allows language conditions going forward.