Galway City Council aims to become first in the country to offer all its services in Irish by 2030
Galway City Council has offered a glimpse of its ambition to make Irish accessible across its servi ces by 2030 after conducting its March plenary meeting entirely as Gaeilge.
Celebrating Seachtain na Gaeilge, the meeting laid out various projects and initiatives that will drive the council to establish Irish as a working language, seeing 20pc of staff with fluency by 2030.
Marcus Ó Conaire, the Irish language officer for Galway City Council, told the chamber those using council services in any capacity should have the option to speak their native Irish language.
Galway had looked to a successful integration of the Irish language in Donegal County Council as a launch point to potentially become the first local authority to achieve the language accessibility goal.
“It is Irish without stress,” Mr Ó Conaire told the chamber. “Irish will be welcome at all times, wherever possible.”
Chief Executive Leonard Cleary pointed to new signage seen on Galway city roads referencing Cill Aodáin by Antaine Ó Raiftearaí, a poem about the beginning of spring.
“Anois teacht an Earraigh, Beidh an lá ag dul chun síneadh,” Mr Cleary read the beginning of the poem, drawing comparison to planting seeds to watch Irish language use grow in the local authority.
Seeds which, he said, are freshly planted and some already blooming in various projects and initiatives like establishing an Irish language panel and full interpreting services.
Recently, lanyards that say “Tá Gaeilge agam’ (I have, or speak, Irish) are available for council staff to encourage conversation, or a cúpla focal, in Irish.
The transition to a bilingual space in the chamber will be on a cost-neutral basis, Mr Cleary said.
There are two large Gaeltacht areas in Galway City – in Knocknacarra and An Bruach Thoír. Surrounding areas in Co Galway are significant influences on Irish speaking locations in the city as well.
However, there is a necessity to integrate the use of the original language in the workings of the city that hosts it as Mr Ó Connaire said: “Bilingualism is a sham until [council] services are available in both languages.”