The restoration of the Irish language to use nationwide, and as the spoken language of Gaeltacht communities in particular, is the number one priority of Sinn Féin’s cultural policy.

A Sinn Féin government would mean having a senior Minister with responsibility for the Irish language and Gaeltacht, rather than it being lost behind other priorities or left to a Junior Minister who can’t fight their case in Budget negotiations.

Rather than repeat the farce of recent years by appointing a Minister for Irish who has to learn Irish on the job, a Sinn Féin Minister would be rooted in the language community, understand the scale of the problems on day one and be equipped with a plan to address them.

Sinn Féin would reverse the drastic cuts in the budget for our national language, and deliver on our promise to go even further than the ‘Growth Plan’ set out by Conradh na Gaeilge and 130 Irish community groups for 2024-2029 by implementing the policies set out in this manifesto.

Budget 2025 made clear the lack of ambition from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, who provided just €6m for the Irish language and Gaeltacht Budget, whereas a Sinn Féin government would have provided more than €50m in additional targeted measures. Sinn Féin intends to adopt a truly all-of-government approach to revitalising our national and first official language and we propose investing an additional cumulative total of more than €50m current funding over five years and €75m of capital for this specific purpose.

Sinn Féin priorities include:

• Appointing a senior minister with responsibility for the Irish language and the Gaeltacht.

• Delivering the 20% recruitment target for bilingual public servants from 2030 enshrined in the Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021, and progressively increasing the target for the years thereafter, and set B2+ under the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages as the minimum competency in Irish.

• Finally recognising a person’s legal right to their name and address in the Irish language, including the síneadh fada, both when using state services and in commercial transactions, including with banks and airlines.

• Implementing Sinn Féin’s Ár Seacht nDícheall don Ghaeilge - seven policies to normalise and increase use of Irish in the public sphere, including (aside from limited grounds for exemption):

  • Protecting the right to use Irish.

  • Bilingual packaging.

  • Bilingual information in shops.

  • Making public ad spaces bilingual.

  • Irish as the default home option on self-service machines, and accepting fadas.

  • Only using Irish for official purposes in place-names on road signs.

  • Irish-only state branding.

• Establishing a specific Irish Language Capital Programme to deliver Irish language cultural centres (Cultúrlann) and dedicated Gaelic Quarters in towns and cities.

• Delivering a substantial increase in funding to Foras na Gaeilge to enable the Irish Language Network Development Schemes to grow and strengthen the 6 Lead Organisations.

• Providing extra funding for language planning in each Irish Language Network, and through Foras na Gaeilge for each local authority to develop authority-wide language plans.

• Ensuring Irish language arts are at the heart of any arts funding by the State, and working towards delivering the recommendations of the comprehensive 2023 Irish Language Committee Report on the Irish Language Writing, Publishing and Reading Sector, launched at Oireachtas na Samhna in Killarney, in particular:

  • Restoring the Irish Language Books Scheme to pre-2008 levels.

  • Restoring the Commissioning Scheme.

  • Increasing funding for Irish language journalism and channelling required Irish language ad spending by public bodies towards a dedicated weekly Irish language print and electronic newspaper.

  • Providing a free Irish language book to every child and teenager, tailored to their level of Irish, once during primary school and again during secondary school.