THIRD LEVEL/PÓL Ó MUIRÍ: The development of Irish-language education has, in recent years, focused on primary and second- level. However, NUI Galway has now published a strategic document which, it is hoped, will pioneer the development of an Irish-language university where courses will be taught entirely through Irish.
The president of NUI Galway, Iognáid Ó Muircheartaigh, said that it was hoped that 200 jobs would be created through this project. These jobs would be "attractive to Gaeltacht youth who have third-level education and will provide them with an opportunity of returning to their own community and in taking part in developing and perpetuating their communities".
Ó Muircheartaigh was speaking as the university took the reins of their northern campus, an Chrannóg, in the the Gweedore Gaeltacht, Co Donegal.
The university aims to establish four centres where courses will be taught. Three of the centres will be in Connemara, Co Galway, and Donegal and the fourth on the university's existing Galway campus.
The estimated capital cost will be £31 million and the estimated running cost, when the project is fully operational, £12 million a year. The aim is to provide places for 1,500 undergraduates and postgraduates within the next five years. Mature students will also be catered for.
Joe Mac Donnacha, development manager at the university's Áras na Gaeilge, said: "This is a radical and creative approach to providing third-level education through Irish to a dispersed community."
