§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what provision he has made in accordance with his commitments under Article 12, paragraph 3 of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages to reflect the(a) Irish, (b) Welsh and (c) Scots Gaelic languages and culture; and what the estimated cost of such provision is in each of the next four years. [159498]
§ Mr. VazThere is no fixed budget for honouring this commitment over the next four years, but the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish Devolved Administrations, who are responsible for implementing these measures, have a number of programmes in hand.
The Scottish Executive and the Northern Ireland Executive have allocated a total of £310,000 in 2001–02 for the Columba Initiative in co-operation with the 346W Republic of Ireland to promote links between speakers of Irish and Scots Gaelic in both Scotland and the whole island of Ireland.
The Northern Ireland Administration is committed to a number of projects, including a £2.53 million subsidy for the Irish Language Agency under the Good Friday Agreement, and a touring exhibition of all the languages used in Northern Ireland, both of which will benefit the Republic of Ireland. The NIA has also, in conjunction with the British Council and the Arts Council in the Republic of Ireland, funded a number of events to promote Irish culture in countries such as France, Germany and the USA, and will continue to offer support where appropriate to similar future initiatives.
The National Assembly for Wales announced in April 2000, funding worth £130,000 over three years, in support of a project to support the Welsh Language and Culture in the Chubut province of Argentina. The project is managed for the Assembly by the British Council in collaboration with the Wales-Argentina Society and Cardiff University's Welsh Language Teaching Centre for Adults: