EU funding for the promotion of Irish and other minority languages is set to be halved.
Included in the 1998 EU draft budget, totalling £72 billion, is a proposal to cut the bureau's annual budget from £800,000 to £400,000. If the proposal goes ahead it would mean a severe curtailment of the activities of the Dublin-based Bureau for Lesser Used Languages, and possibly its closure.
The Labour MEP Ms Bernie Malone said that the prospect of Dublin losing the bureau was very real. "There has been some criticism of its operation and it cannot be taken for granted. I am making representations to Sile de Valera, the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, David Andrews. It is imperative that they take up this issue," she said.