STATE agencies discriminate against children who are being raised through Irish outside the Gaeltacht, the Merriman Winter School in Kilkenny was told.
The chairwoman of Comhluadar, Ms Muireann Ni Mhorain, asked why Bord na Gaeilge sponsored events such as greyhound racing but had refused to fund its activities. Comhluadar is a support for parents who are trying to raise their children through Irish.
In recent years, Bord na Gaeilge has sponsored a number of sporting events, including horse racing at Leopardstown, greyhound racing at Shelbourne Park, and camogie matches.
Ms Ni Mhorain said Comhluadar originally looked for funding from the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, pointing out that if the families lived in Gaeltacht areas they would be eligible for an annual grant of £200 per family for raising their children through Irish, as well as other Gaeltacht grants. Yet children being raised through Irish outside the Gaeltacht received no State support.
The Department turned them down and advised them to apply to Bord na Gaeilge, which also refused to fund them.
"It seems to me that Bord na Gaeilge is willing to support all kinds of things: horses, hounds, camogie, menus, songs," she said, speaking in Irish. "But they are not willing - and neither is the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht - to support a very important group of children, on whom the future of the language may depend.
"Sometimes people look at my children, when they hear them speaking Irish, as if they had two heads on them. I think that they would have a greater chance of getting support if they had four legs under them."
Responding, Bord na Gaeilge's chief executive, Mr Micheal O Gruagain, told the weekend assembly that sponsorship of sporting events was part of the board's efforts to promote the language in a broad and inclusive way.
The sponsorship of greyhound racing had helped raise funds for two worthwhile language projects. The board had no authority to fund language organisations, apart from a small number it "inherited" for historical reasons. He said the board would be happy to consider sponsoring a greyhound race in order to raise funds for Comhluadar.
Ms Ni Mhorain also raised concerns about the standard of Irish in all Irish schools. She said the huge expansion of the sector in recent years had led to a situation where children from Irish speaking backgrounds formed only a small minority of children attending such schools. This verse affect on their development, as they had tendency to pick up "bad Irish" from their peers, who were learning the language at school, she said. Grammatically incorrect constructions such as "an bhfuil cead agam faigh briosca" and "an feidir me piosa" were part of a new patois which had been baptised Gaelscoilis by the writer and The Irish columnist, Liam O Muirthile.