ABOUT – ÚDARÁS NA GAELTACHTA
Project partner
Established under Irish public law, Údarás na Gaeltachta (Udaras) acts as the statutory regional development authority responsible for the economic and sociolinguistic development of the Gaeltacht districts in Ireland. The Gaeltacht districts include predominantly rural districts including 6 off-shore islands for the most part located on the Southern and the Atlantic coast, where the Irish language remains in use as a community vernacular. The Gaeltacht Act (2012) provides the statutory framework under which the Agency discharges its responsibilities and manages its investment programmes. The agency currently employs approximately 80 full-time staff. Since its establishment in 1980, the agency has invested state resources in order to create the necessary economic and social infrastructure which is crucial to the development of a resilient and sustainable enterprise economy. Its funding and development programmes have been deployed to support a broad cross section of productive enterprises rooted in those sectors where the Gaeltacht regions demonstrate competitive advantage based on a mix of endogenous resources and external investment. The organisation discharges a wide range of development functions and its development and investment programme forms an integral part of the economic, linguistic, cultural and social sustainability of the Gaeltacht.
These investment and development measures provide key supports (financial, enterprise accommodation, training, skills development) to the local enterprise base and to community sector development initiatives. These funding measures have served to address the challenges inherent to the development of economic activity in the more peripheral and remote rural economies which characterise many Gaeltacht districts. Such measures have contributed significantly to efforts in mediating and overcoming longstanding structural handicaps within local and regional economies. The agency makes every effort to maintain and fund employment and training, through a combination of training and educational schemes. The strategic objective of Údarás in relation to the area of education and training development is to enhance the skills base and education of the Gaeltacht community. The agency also encourages and builds a creative and innovative mindset among Gaeltacht communities by enabling people by developing and implementing an extensive training and coaching programme throughout the Gaeltacht, encouraging and enabling communities by organising an extensive training programme for community-based bodies and enabling companies by providing a range of incentives to assist them to develop appropriate training programmes in their businesses.
Údarás na Gaeltachta team:
Seán Ó Coisdealbha
Seán Ó Coisdealbha works as Regional Manager in the Western region of Údarás na Gaeltachta. Seán has over 25 years of experience working in local development, particularly with small and medium enterprises and with the voluntary sector, and in the government administration sector. He has a strong business development background and has worked extensively on European projects including Interreg
and Horizon 2020. He is a native speaker of Irish and has native level fluency in English.
Pamela Ní Thaidhg
Pamela Ní Thaidhg works as a Development Executive in the Regional Office in Co. Mayo of Údarás na Gaeltachta. Pamela has over 20 years of experience working in the training and education sector in local development, particularly with start-ups, and small and medium enterprises, with schools and with the voluntary sector. She is a native speaker of Irish and has native level fluency in English.
