FF’s Thomas Byrne to become Minister of State for the Gaeltacht, with sources claiming many FG Ministers are not sufficiently fluent in Irish, or simply don’t want the job
Responsibility for the Gaeltacht in Government has been transferred back to a Fianna Fáil Minister as no Fine Gael Minister was willing, or sufficiently proficient in the language, to take on the portfolio.
There was some confusion on Wednesday afternoon following the Cabinet meeting as to the identity of the new Minister. Some sources on the Fine Gael side were of the view that the Chief Whip, Hildegarde Naughton, would take on that responsibility and had been offered the role. Sources told The Irish Times that the Gaeltacht portfolio posed a problem for Fine Gael Ministers because of insufficient command of the language, or an unwillingness to take on the job.When contacted, the vice-chair of the Coiste na Gaeilge in the Oireachtas, Senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee, said she was delighted with Mr Byrne’s appointment.
“Thomas is committed and hard-working, and I look forward to engaging with him on a wide range of issues we are working on.”
Thomas-Byrne Hildegarde-Naughton
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