Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 December 2025
1183. Deputy Shay Brennan asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht if he plans to have a children's Irish-language publishing fund or a young writers Irish initiative for young Gaeilgeoirí. [71774/25]
View answerI understaand that Foras na Gaeilge has delivered initiatives to support the publication of works in Irish by young writers over the past number of years and will continue to build on these areas in 2026. These include:
• Scríobh Leabhar (www.forasnagaeilge.ie/scriobhleabhar/) 2025-2026: The aim of this initiative is to give an opportunity to children to write, design and publish their own books in Irish.
• Mentoring Scheme: Clár na Leabhar Gaeilge hopes to advertise this scheme in 2026 which gives trainee writers an opportunity to get advice regarding their writing and the art of writing in general from recognised writers.
In addition, under my Department's Scéimeanna Tacaíochta Gaeilge, funds are available to organisations supporting young writers and children’s Irish-language publishing. In this context, Fighting Words na Gaeilge, runs a significant Irish language writing and publishing programme with funding support from my Department. My department has recently awarded €300,000 over a 3-year period (2025-2028, €100,000 in 2025-2026, €100,000 in 2026-2027, €100,000 in 2027-2028) for this scheme.
Fighting Words na Gaeilge works with schools and youth groups in Gaeltacht regions and with Gaelscoileanna across the country. Under this initiative, creative writing workshops, summer camps, clubs and projects are provided free of charge for young writers. Over the past three years, 12 collections of stories in the Scaip an Scéal series were written by children attending Gaeltacht schools from Kerry to Donegal and have been published in print and online by Fighting Words. Most recently - 'Is Fiú an Tairbhe an Trioblóid' was published with eight schools in Gaoth Dobhair in the Donegal Gaeltacht area. In addition to this, '1, 2, Spraoi' is a celebrated project where children write maths stories in Irish, whereby mathematical concepts are communicated and explained for children in story form. Two volumes have been published - in 2024 and 2025 - and again, these publications are available in print and online.
