Emergency funding saves Scotland’s Gaelic programme from cuts

Scottish ministers have given emergency funding to save a network of Gaelic community workers who faced being laid off because of government cuts.

Gaelic activists, MSPs and community leaders were dismayed after it emerged last month that Bòrd na Gàidhlig (BnG), the body charged with protecting Gaelic, was removing 27 development worker posts across the country.

They said losing these posts would deepen the crisis affecting Gaelic language and culture, which has been in long-term retreat. Activists said Gaelic could be “dead in its heartlands by 2030”.

BnG was adamant the cuts were necessary because the Scottish government had stopped providing dedicated funding for the programme; it said its core grant had barely grown since it was set up 17 years ago, making it impossible to find the money needed to support the 27 posts.

The Scottish government initially defended the cuts and told BnG it had to take responsibility for finding ways to protect the programme. But in a significant change, the government announced on Friday it had found £175,000 to fund it in the short term.

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Humza Yousaf, the first minister, speaking as he visited the Western Isles, where Gaelic was once dominant, said: “We recognise the significant part Gaelic plays in Scotland’s culture and we want to support the language to grow and thrive.

“Despite the extraordinary financial challenges facing the Scottish government, Bòrd na Gàidhlig’s core baseline funding has been protected and we are bringing forward the Scottish languages bill to provide further protection for Scotland’s Indigenous languages.”

Yousaf said BnG now had to find ways to protect the programme in the long term.

Ealasaid MacDonald, BnG’s chief executive, said the government’s “active partnership” in the scheme was welcome and said it had been in touch with the communities and organisations affected to let them know.

“We will continue to work together to ensure that the scheme contributes to building the capacity for Gaelic across our communities,” she said. “The work of these officers enables opportunities for empowering communities as they determine what they need to allow Gaelic to prosper.”

The original cuts announcement had angered Gaelic groups, which said the development officer posts were central to their plans to open new Gaelic hubs and promote the language in areas such as Tiree, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

In Aberdeen, the cuts amplified a controversy around the university’s decision to heavily reduce its Gaelic teaching as part of cuts to its modern languages department.

Activists said the university had backtracked on an understanding it would help fund its Gaelic development officer because of the severity of its budgetary problems; the university denied that, and said there was no indication it was required to fund the post once BnG funding ended.

Rhoda Meek, the chair of Tiree Development Trust on the Hebridean island of Tiree, said the emergency funding was welcome. But she added: “We remain disappointed that this critical work is funded by top-ups and would appeal to both the government and Bòrd na Gàidhlig to rethink the importance they place on Gaelic in our vernacular communities.”

Prof Wilson McLeod, an emeritus professor of Gaelic at Edinburgh University involved in a setting up a new Gaelic hub in Edinburgh, said the bailout was “excellent news” and would be a relief for everyone affected. For some community projects, he said “the money is running out right now, so this is a lifeline”.

Nonetheless, there were still significant questions about how these posts and programmes would be secured in the longer term. “It appears to be a bit of an interim solution and I think there will be questions going forward,” he said.