TD Jack Chambers visits Carn Tóchair and Slaughtneil

Jack Chambers TD, Minister of State with Special Responsibility for the Gaeltacht and Sport visited Carn Tóchair Community Association and Sleacht Néill GAA club on Thursday.

The visit followed an earlier visit by a delegation from the Oireachtas Committee on the Irish Language, Gaeltacht and the Irish-speaking Community and is in recognition of the unprecedented success of the local area in promoting the Irish language and Gaelic Sports.

No other rural community in Ireland has been as successful in reinstating the Irish language at the heart of the community in the way that Carn Tóchair has done.

The report to the Minister by the visiting Oireachtas Committee, published in September, highlighted the national significance of the achievements and in particular, the growth of a young and vibrant generation of Irish speakers who are an inspiration to other communities throughout Ireland.

The report recommended that the Carn Tóchair model of promoting the language be formally adopted as policy and replicated in other areas throughout the country.

The Minister was taken on a tour of the An Carn complex, received a presentation about the wide range of cultural, environmental and community work being carried out there and in the local area.

The Minister met with young people attending the youth club and music classes and with employees and committee members.

He also met with Córa Corry, the Chairperson of Mid-Ulster Council and received a small presentation from the committee of a painting of Carn Tóchair mountain in recognition of his visit.

The Minister then went on to visit Sleacht Néill GAA. The success of Sleacht Néill at county, provincial and all-Ireland levels on the sporting field in three codes has been inspirational to many other small rural areas throughout Ireland and Sleacht Néill is known the length and breadth of Ireland as a result.

Ollie McCusker (Secretary Slaughtneil GAC) presents TD Jack Chambers with a jersey during his visit.

The club often plays host to visitors from throughout Ireland who are keen to learn about the club, its ethos and how such a small rural area can achieve and maintain such a high standard across all codes.

The Minister watched underage training and the preparations of the senior footballers for their upcoming county final. He met with Sleacht Néill committee members, and both he and the Council Chairperson, Córa Corry, were shown plans for an ambitious new Health and Wellbeing Centre planned at the club which includes a covered 4G playing surface.

This new facility will allow community health and wellbeing activities to take place on a year-round basis and will cater for those within the wider Maghera Area.

Importantly this facility will also allow the area to play host to visits by clubs and other community organisations throughout Ireland to help develop an important network of community success models throughout Ireland.

County Derry pupils left without transport after bus route lapses

The EA informed the school on the Friday that the bus would not run on the Monday.

The Minister on his visit commented: “It is truly amazing what this small rural community has achieved on the sporting field, in reinstating the Irish language, in preserving their natural environment and the role that they are playing in inspiring other areas to follow their example.   

"The achievements are inspirational and something that the local community should be very proud of indeed. 

"As a recognition of this successful community effort, Carn Tóchair has been designated by Foras na Gaeilge as an Irish Language Network – in tandem with the recognition by the Irish government of statutory networks in the south.”