''Líofa'' (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

: Fluent) is an initiative headquartered in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, which aims to assist people in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

who wish to support and become fluent speakers of the

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

(''Gaeilge''). It was founded in 2011 by the

Northern Ireland Executive The Northern Ireland Executive (Irish language, Irish: ''Feidhmeannas Thuaisceart Éireann'', Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster Scots: ''Norlin Airlan Executive'') is the devolution, devolved government of Northern Ireland, an administrative branc ...

's Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure,

Carál Ní Chuilín Carál Ní Chuilín (; born 18 December 1964), formerly known as Caroline Cullen, is an Irish Sinn Féin politician and former Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer serving as the Principal Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland A ...

Líofa bursary controversy

As part of the project, the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure set up the Líofa Gaeltacht Bursary Scheme, whereby people can apply to attend summer courses. The

Department for Communities The Department for Communities (DfC, Irish Language, Irish: ''An Roinn Pobal''; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster Scots: ''Depairtment fur Commonities'') is a devolved Northern Ireland government department in the Northern Ireland Executive. The m ...

took over responsibility for the initiative in May 2016 following the Fresh Start Agreement. On 23 December 2016, the

Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist, Ulster loyalism, loyalist, British nationalist and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who ...

Minister for Communities The Department for Communities (DfC, Irish Language, Irish: ''An Roinn Pobal''; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster Scots: ''Depairtment fur Commonities'') is a devolved Northern Ireland government department in the Northern Ireland Executive. The m ...

Paul Givan Paul Jonathan Givan (born 12 October 1981) is a Northern Irish unionist politician who served as First Minister and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, First Minister of Northern Ireland from 2021 to 2022. A member of the Democratic Unio ...

removed £55,000 of funding from the scheme. The money funded annual trips for 100 Northern Irish disadvantaged young people to the Donegal Gaeltacht, where they would attend Irish language classes.

Martin McGuinness James Martin Pacelli McGuinness (; 23 May 1950 – 21 March 2017) was an Irish republican politician and statesman for Sinn Féin and a leader within the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) during The Troubles. He was the deputy First Minist ...

said the DUP's decision to remove funding from the Líofa budget was a factor for his resignation as Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. Givan came under pressure to reinstate the funding and he said that the original decision to cut the funding was "not political".

Gerry Adams Gerard Adams (; born 6 October 1948) is a retired Irish Republican politician who was the president of Sinn Féin between 13 November 1983 and 10 February 2018, and served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Louth from 2011 to 2020. From 1983 to 19 ...

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

leader, called Givan an "ignoramus" and called the decision "ignorant". Givan's decision spurred protests outside the headquarters of the Department for Communities in Belfast. As the protests were happening, Givan tweeted that he was reinstating the bursaries after he "found the necessary funding". Furthermore, he said he "was not prepared to allow Sinn Féin to use that £50,000 as a political weapon against us he DUPin the upcoming election as a tool to rally their troops, and so I've taken that away from them". Givan's decision was welcomed by Irish language groups, but they insisted on an

Irish Language Act The Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Act 2022 (c. 45, , ) is an act of Parliament in the United Kingdom providing "official recognition of the status of the Irish language" in Northern Ireland, with Ulster Scots being an officially rec ...

to be a feature of any crisis talks.

References

External links

Official Website
at Liofa.eu
Liofa
at

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

{{Gaels Irish language organisations Organisations based in Belfast 2011 establishments in Northern Ireland Organizations established in 2011

Líofa bursary controversy

See also

References

External links