The Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT ) will be awarded a grant of €255,000 over a three-year period, to develop its BA degree course, business and communications through Irish.
The grant was announced this week by the Minister for Community, Rural, and Gaeltacht Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív. This course was first made available in 1991 and since then 121 students, many of whom come from Gaeltacht areas, have taken it. GMIT has now said it aims to further develop this course.
While announcing the grant, Minister Ó Cuív said that it is important for the future of both the Irish language and the Gaeltacht that there are qualified people with fluent Irish in the business and communications sectors to serve the needs of the community.
One of the conditions of this grant is that there must be agreement between GMIT and Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge, National University of Ireland, Galway, on the course subjects and resources already available for third level education in the Gaeltacht. The Minister said that the Department of Community, Rural, and Gaeltacht Affairs expects that part of the course will be available in the Gaeltacht from now on. “It is vital that both the Department and Údarás na Gaeltachta get the best possible value for the significant investment in this area to date.”
