As an increasing number of Gaeltacht houses are being bought by English speakers, one Gaeilgeoir asked if discrimination is necessary to keep the Irish language alive.

Housing has been a popular topic during the lead up to the General Election - and now, two Gaeltacht areas have weighed in on how the crisis is affecting them.

Two Gaeltacht areas in Meath, Ráth Chairn and Baile Ghib, have noticed a significant increase in English speaking families buying up houses in their areas.

On Moncrieff today, St Patrick's Classical School Principal and Baile Ghib resident Harry McGarry said the communities are much more than “just areas where Irish is spoken”.

“You'd have over 500 families in total in the Baile Ghib Gaeltacht,” he said.

“We're very acutely aware of our unique position in Ireland's cultural heritage.

“Our communities are not just places where Irish is spoken, but, they're thriving, living expressions, of our language and our heritage.”

"Thriving community"

The community is not just for Meath Irish speakers – Gaeilgeoir families from all over Ireland have moved to the region, Mr McGarry noted.

“59 very brave families left very remote areas on the western seaboard - parts of Donegal, Mayo, Kerry and Cork - and they set up a new Gaeltacht in Baile Ghib,” he said.

Baile Ghib is a “thriving community”, but they “face challenges”.

“Maintaining our Gaeltacht status not only requires a huge community effort, but it requires investment, both financially and also in terms of human resources,” Mr McGarry said.

“We're facing great threats that could undermine the identity of the Gaeltacht community.”

Cost of houses is "much higher"

Houses cost much more in Baile Ghib than other Gaeltachts, as the community is located on the Dublin commuter belt. 

“The cost of building a house is very high, much higher, for example, than in other parts of the country,” Mr McGarry said.

“If, for example, a house comes onto the market in our local area, it will be sold to the highest bidder, often pricing locals out of the market.

“Of course, there's no stipulation that the buyers should be an Irish speaker, so I'm not too sure how to get around this."

"Positive discrimination"

Mr McGarry said he wonders if "positive discrimination" is necessary keep the Irish language alive.

“Perhaps something like a tax break or an exemption from stamp duty for local Irish speakers would help that they could at least be in a position to put in a bid on the house.

“Now, I know that sounds like discrimination in favour of the local person, but I would see it as positive discrimination in favour of preserving the language, which is much more important.”

"A lot more could be done"

Mr McGarry said some of the protections for the Gaeltacht still exist - but not enough.

“For example, if you want to build a house in the Gaeltacht, you must have a local need, for example, and you must also submit a language impact statement to kind of prove that if you're not an Irish speaker, you're at least willing to try and to bring up your children, as Gaeilge,” he said.

“There are things there, but a lot more could be done to maybe ease that burden.

“I mean, they could bring back the local or the reintroduction of the Gaeltacht housing grants, for example, for new builds and for renovations to older houses… that was all done away with a with the crash.”

Mr McGarry said the communities are “battling hard to keep the percentage of Irish speakers up”.

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Sign welcoming visitors to the gaeltacht. Image: Alamy