Minister of State for Gaeltacht Affairs Joe McHugh has sanctioned a grant of €2.7 million for Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge.

Established in 2004, Acadamh promotes the development and provision of university courses and research through the medium of Irish in three Gaeltacht locations and at NUI Galway.

The money has been earmarked to fund a range of courses through Irish at Acadamh centres in Gaoth Dobhair, Carna and An Cheathrú Rua.

Welcoming the grant approval, registrar and deputy president of NUI Galway, Professor Pól Ó Dochartaigh, said: “I warmly welcome the decision of Minister of State, Joe Mc Hugh. We want to ensure that NUI Galway graduates have excellent Irish language competence and this support shall provide a level of planning certainty as we implement the University’s Irish language strategy between now and 2018.”

The grant will provide a yearly allocation of €900,000 for the courses at the Acadamh until the end of  the 2017-2018 academic year.

It currently provides undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in applied Irish, translation studies, communications and information technology in its Gaeltacht centres and on the University’s campus in Galway.

The university’s strategic plan between now and 2018 includes the introduction of a Gaeltacht semester and student placement programme by 2016 to help students at NUI Galway to study Irish as part of their degree.

It also aims to become the primary centre in Ireland for language immersion programmes for student teachers.

Language acquisition programmes are also planned to ensure that advanced language competence is recognised as a graduate attribute for NUI Galway students.

Announcing his decision to approve the grant, Mr McHugh said: “The Acadamh greatly contributes to the educational opportunities available to the Irish language and Gaeltacht communities and it has a positive influence on the social, economic, cultural and linguistic life of those communities."

Commenting on plans to increase the number of Irish language modules available to undergraduate students in the College of Arts, Social Sciences and Celtic Studies programmes, Mr McHugh said: “The emergence of innovative arrangements of this kind is important, instead of traditional provision in these areas”.

CEO of Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge, Dónall Ó Braonáin, also welcomed the funding: “This is significant and important support for the University, especially as we begin to offer the Gaeltacht Semester Programme which will be available across all of our Gaeltacht centres in time. The Gaeltacht Placement Programmes for Student Teachers have clearly demonstrated the academic advantage of immersion language programmes in the Gaeltacht.”