The "cúpla focal" may not pass any more for prospective residents in the Connemara Gaeltacht. Fluency in Irish will be required for anyone seeking planning permission there, according to the new draft development plan for Co Galway. But if you are after permission for that "once-off rural house", it may be one way to secure it.
Whatever the development, it will require a proven ability by the applicant to converse in the national language.
The actual standard of spoken Irish will be set by a language impact statement, which will be drawn up under national guidelines approved by Institiúd Teangeolaíochta Éireann in Dublin, according to Fine Gael councillor, Mr Pol O Foighil.
He successfully proposed insertion of the provision in the draft plan, which was finally agreed after a marathon meeting of Galway County Council last weekend.
If accepted, the measure will apply to an area stretching from Barna, just outside Galway city, to Carna in south Connemara where the landscape has already been the focus of much ribbon development. In other areas of the Connemara Gaeltacht where the language is not so frequently spoken, applicants for planning permission will have to make a commitment to support and promote Irish.
Mr O Foighil says the measure is perfectly legal under the current planning act.
"The Planning Act 2000 requires that county development plans contain policy objectives to protect the linguistic and cultural heritage of the area, and this is mandatory," he said yesterday.
The measure attracted no opposition from other councillors, but may affect investment in the Gaeltacht area.
Employers in the Connemara Gaeltacht will have to ensure Irish speakers are taken on for specific positions. "We must realise that it is the people who own the language, not the county council or the Government." Mr O Foighil, who is also a member of Údarás na Gaeltachta, said in defence of the proposal.
"It is a community language and the people in the second area where Irish is not as strong must decide if they want to remain in the Gaeltacht, while the statutory bodies must provide them with the the wherewithal to remain in it."
Mr O Foighil said it was the only way to halt what he described as a "flood" of English-speaking families moving to the Gaeltacht.
"People might say it is discriminatory, but I am only discriminating against people who should be speaking Irish but aren't doing anything to promote the language.
"Yet they aren't slow to avail of the grant aid in the area," he said.
