Council invited To Give Evidence On Gaelic

 Issue Date: Thursday 12 January 2005

COUNCIL INVITED TO GIVE EVIDENCE ON GAELIC

A delegation from The Highland Council’s Gaelic Select Committee will give evidence at a meeting of the Committee of Experts of the Regional and Minority Languages Charter.

The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages was drawn up in 1992 by the Council of Europe to help promote Europe’s lesser used languages. The UK Government signed the Charter in 2000 and ratified it in 2001 in respect of Scottish Gaelic, Irish Gaelic in Northern Ireland and Welsh.

The Committee of Experts is responsible for carrying out monitoring. Its role is to examine the real situation of minority languages, to report to the Committee of Ministers on levels of compliance with the Charter, and, where appropriate, to encourage the Government to reach a higher level of commitment.

The Council representatives, along with representatives from other Scottish Local Authorities, will travel to Edinburgh for the meeting on Monday 30 January.

Following the 2003 review of the UK’s ’compliance with the Charter, the Committee made the following recommendations to the Governemnt in relation to Gaelic:

 Make primary and secondary education in Gaelic generally available in areas where the language is used;
 With regard to Gaelic, establish a system for monitoring the measures taken and progress achieved in regional or minority language education, including the production and publication of report findings;
 Provide information and guidance to those responsible for implementing the undertaking chosen for Gaelic, in particular in the fields of education and administration;
 Facilitate the establishment of a television channel or an equivalent television service and overcome the shortcomings in Gaelic radio broadcasting.