Uachtarán na hÉireann, Michael D. Higgins will launch a bilingual city initiative for the City of Galway as part of a programme of events for Seachtain na Gaeilge 2016.
An tUachtarán will attend a Special City Council Meeting on 7th March 2016 to launch the project. It is hoped that the initiative will engage all sectors of the community in Galway City to promote a sustainable bilingual project, with a view to developing and improving the level of bilingualism in Galway City.
A motion proposing the initiative was initially adopted by Elected Members on 4 September 2015. Work has begun on compiling a Steering Committee, with a view to agreeing Terms of Reference for the initiative, and to oversee implementation. “This project is the first of its kind in Ireland, and Galway City Council is very proud to be involved in this initiative.
It gives a valuable opportunity to shape and to interpret what bilingualism means to the people of Galway”, said Mayor of the City of Galway, Councillor Frank Fahy. “We will be drawing from other examples of best practice in bilingualism to ensure that this initiative is not merely lip service, but a project with defined and achievable objectives”.
“We hope that engagement from all sectors of the community means that this will be pioneering work and that it will be seen as an example of best practice that could be emulated by other cities in Ireland”, said Galway City Council Irish Officer Ailish Bhreathnach. “We would like to work closely with all interested parties to develop a framework based on phased implementation of measures to develop this Bilingual City Initiative”.The Special City Council Meeting will start at 16:45.
