Additional funding for families who provide accommodation for students under the Irish Colleges system has been approved by the Minister of State for the Gaeltacht.
While visiting the Galway Gaeltacht, the Minister of State for the Gaeltacht and Sport, and Government Chief Whip, Jack Chambers, announced that he has approved an almost 10% or €1 increase in the daily grant payable to Gaeltacht families who provide accommodation for Irish College attendees.
This will mean that €12 instead of €11 per night per student will be payable in the future under the Irish Learners’ Scheme. The minister said the increase will come into effect immediately.
This increase comes after the almost 10% or €1 increase in the grant announced earlier in March – making the two increases an almost 20% increase in the scheme’s grant since February.
In addition, the Minister of State has announced that the one-off start-up grant payable to families registering under the department’s scheme for the first time is being increased from €2,000 to €6,000 – or 80% of the cost whichever is less.
The department will be providing additional funding worth approximately €820,000 for the benefit of the college system accommodation providers, and accordingly for the benefit of the directors and attendees of the colleges.
Mr. Chambers said that hundreds of families all over the Gaeltacht are providing accommodation with the help of Scéim na bhFoghlaimeoirí Gaeilge for Irish language college attendees and they will all benefit from this further increase.
He added that this is the second increase in the scheme’s grant this year.
“These families are of course an integral part of the college system and it is on these families that the department’s efforts are largely focused to help the sector in general in financial terms,” he said.
“The increase I have announced will help families already registered under the department’s scheme, as well as of course attract new families into the system – which will greatly help colleges to be able to function productively.”
Pro-rata increases will be made to the daily grant payable under the department’s scheme in relation to the specific projects entitled ÁRAINN Gaeltachta and ERASMUS Gaeltachta.
Mr. Chambers said the overall stated objective of this policy is to support the Irish language and the Gaeltacht in line with the objectives of the Government’s Action Plan for the Irish Language 2018-2022.