Young Irish language users, aspiring to rear their offspring with native fluency in the Gaeltacht region where the language is already under threat, are finding it unavoidable to leave their ancestral areas due to a severe lack of housing.
Ruth Ní Mhurchú, an officer responsible for strategising the language in An Daingean (Dingle), a part of the Kerry Gaeltacht, observed the painful scarcity and adversity in securing housing. She said, “They’re as elusive as mythical matter.”
Being from Cork originally, with roots traced back to the Corca Dhuibhne Kerry Gaeltacht, Ms Ní Mhurchú stated finding rentable accommodation becomes near impossible in locations where the scenes are dominated by unoccupied second homes or ones that are only functioning as high-priced transient leases.
“People fervently wish to bring up their children in an Irish-speaking Gaeltacht, but they are helpless,” she lamented.
Language schemes are implausible without guaranteeing residence for the language users. If they don’t have a place to reside in, where are they expected to go?
Akin to her kin who lives in a field-based mobile home and has done so for her entire life, Ms Ní Mhurchú doesn’t own any property either. She stated that trying to secure a rental residence was a monumental task, even when she wanted to share the accommodation with individuals who were gainfully employed in the area. “My entire circle of friends still lives with their parents. All of them, who are in their mid-to-late 20s, are in the same predicament. This is an increasingly common occurrence,” she expressed.
Ms Ní Mhurchú was in Dublin to participate in a protest in front of Leinster House on Wednesday to call attention to the acute housing crisis in the Gaeltacht regions.
The government has been urged to release the Gaeltacht planning policies, which have been committed since 2021, owing to the restrictive planning policies and confusion on the local authority planning responsibilities for Gaeltacht areas. Furthermore, the already threatened situation of the Irish-speaking communities adds to the urgency.
Advocates have requested that Údarás na Gaeltachta, the Gaeltacht development agency, be provided with definite responsibilities concerning Gaeltacht housing and the integration of language planning into planning regulations. Donncha Ó hÉallaithe, a proponent for language rights, expressed deep dissatisfaction over the delayed distribution of the anticipated planning guidelines.
He lamented the significant planning stumbling blocks in the Gaeltacht, making it particularly challenging for locals to secure planning permission, even for their own property. Ó hÉallaithe was particularly critical of the county council’s dismissal of the housing needs of young adults still living with their parents. He views such denial as absurd in today’s modern society, especially when it is preventing young, aspiring parents who wish to raise their offspring in an Irish-speaking environment from settling down in the Gaeltacht.
He further mentioned the significant number of young people from the Gaeltacht unable to purchase a home or site within their region. During a recent assembly in An Cheathrú Rua to address the arrival of a handful of asylum applicants to a local hotel, Ó hÉallaithe found it highly ironic how the Irish language was used to justify opposition to these new arrivals. According to him, this deflection fails to address the root cause of the Gaeltacht’s housing issue, correlating instead to policies enforced by various departments like Údarás na Gaeltachta, Roinn na Gaeltachta, and county councils.
The protest on Wednesday had the backing of numerous community groups such as Conradh na Gaeilge, An Meitheal Náisiúnta Pleanála Teanga, BÁNÚ, An Dream Dearg, the Union of Students in Ireland, the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union of Ireland and CATU Ireland.