Community Gaelic funding boosted

Community-based projects are to get �150,000

Community-based Gaelic projects are to be supported with the use of �150,000 of Scottish Government funding.

The Gaelic development body Bord na Gaidhlig (BnG) is to set up a Challenge Fund to support the preservation and promotion of the language.

BnG said ways were needed to help all kinds of Gaelic-speaking communities across Scotland.

The announcement was made at the first national Gaelic in the Community conference, held in Breasclete, Lewis.

Culture Minister Linda Fabiani said: "Gaelic is a national language. We must recognise it on that basis and support it across all our communities, from areas where it is well established, to others where it is growing - such as parts of urban Scotland."

She added that the release of this funding was "yet another step towards achieving ... a sustainable and successful future for Gaelic in Scotland".

BnG interim chairman Arthur Cormack welcomed the "continuing support" of the Scottish Government.

He said: "Although we still have 'traditional' Gaelic communities, where a majority of people speak Gaelic, there are an increasing number of smaller communities within urban areas where Gaelic is used regularly.

"We need to look at ways of supporting all kinds of Gaelic communities but perhaps look at special measures in the traditional Gaelic-speaking communities."

The main aim of the conference is to discuss the key steps required to strengthen Gaelic in communities where it has a high profile and across Scotland as a whole.

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