LESS than a month after Gaelic speakers in Scotland got their own TV channel, Alex Salmond yesterday used the country's top Gaelic festival as a backdrop to announce new education funding for the language.
The First Minister pledged a package worth £2.7 million to build Gaelic schools and boost education support as he launched the Royal National Mod in Falkirk. The Highland festival of Gaelic language and culture is taking place in the town for the fi
rst time.
While Gaelic is only regularly spoken by an estimated 60,000 people in Scotland, enthusiasm for it is building.
About £16 million a year is already spent supporting Gaelic. Mr Salmond said: "The Gaelic language is a vital way of seeing and understanding Scotland. It contains the symbols and metaphors, stories and landscapes that help define Scotland's unique culture."
It was "a valuable vehicle for passing Scottish understanding from one generation to the next," he added.
About £2.6 million will help councils renovate and construct Gaelic-medium schools. Money will also go to help pay for a Gaelic teacher recruitment officer at the Gaelic language promoters, Bòrd na Gàidhlig.
A youth scheme to create employment opportunities for Gaelic speakers was promised £70,000.
Jamie McGrigor, the Scottish Conservatives' communities spokesman, said: "Gaelic is a very important part of Scotland's heritage and it's enjoying a resurgence to some degree.
"This is fine, as long as it's not at the expense of any other form of education."
One of the largest Gaelic events in the world, the Mod comes to the Central Belt about once every six years.
The sportsmen and women, musicians and artists converging on Falkirk were led by the North Uist singer Julie Fowlis – who sings only in Gaelic – who was yesterday named as the first Gaelic Ambassador.
About 10,000 people typically attend the Mod, including 2,000 overseas guests and competitors. Performers this year also include the young traditional band Skerryvore, The Red Hot Chilli Pipers, and Skipinnish, with the piper Andrew Stevenson and accordionist Angus MacPhail.
Sports events range from football to shinty, with about 200 music and sporting contests and Gaelic classes also on offer.
Organisers said Falkirk had a unique claim to host the Mod, as a historical rendezvous for drovers taking their cattle to lowland markets.
The event ends next Saturday with a parade of pipe bands and choirs on Falkirk's High Street.
The UK's first Gaelic-language television channel, BBC Alba, launched last month, screening news, sport, and entertainment, up to seven hours a day. Programmes include a new drama set in Lewis, which stars Chewin' The Fat star Greg Hemphill.
The full article contains 449 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
