Muintearas
Tír an Fhia, Leitir Móir, H91 YE86 Tír an Fhia, Leitir Móir, Ireland
A practice of processes and methods
The practice introduces and provides context for the youth work undertaken by Muintearas to support the provision of Irish Language-only youth clubs and youth supports across the Gaeltacht regions of Ireland.
The Gaeltacht regions are predominantly small, rural, isolated, economically and socially deprived areas scattered along the State\’s western seaboard. The States\’ Gaeltacht areas represent small parts of 7 counties and, cumulatively, have a population of approximately 106,000, of whom some 20,000 identify as daily speakers of the Irish language outside the educational system.
The many challenges facing the Gaeltacht, with regard to economic development, loss of linguistic and cultural identity, housing issues, youth out-migration, and social concerns, will be outlined to provide context for the place, the work, and the issues to be addressed as Muintearas supports our communities and young people.
The practice explores the work of Muintearas as a youth work agent, with language, culture, participation, and community at its core. Our work focuses on the inclusion of and supporting young people aged 3-18, along with their families, who have chosen to attend youth services in Irish. The objective of Muintearas is to offer a high-quality, youth-informed youthwork service in Irish, with direct connections to Government Departments, national agencies, and state-level strategies that support our work. This was achieved by leveraging the partnerships developed and novel strategies adopted to ensure that we have an impact on youth participation, youth voice and youth inclusion across the region with a very small core team of project officers, support staff and volunteers. We also have future plans to enhance the quality and range of youth engagement and youth services for the wider community, and will continue to leverage our partnerships to provide quality youth-led, youth supports to the Irish-speaking community in our region.
Organisation and practice