Frustration in Ballingeary as Irish college remains empty

AT a time when the Gaeltacht village of Ballingeary should be bustling with hundreds of Irish language students from across the country learning their ‘cúpla focal’, it is eerily quiet because the country’s oldest Irish summer college has not opened for the 2024 season.

The frustration with its closure among the tight-knit Gaeltacht community is so bad that a local group has called for the board of Coláiste na Mumhan to step down and allow them to take on the challenge of running the college, which they say is a lifeline for the local economy.

Coiste Forbartha Béal Átha’n Ghaorthaidh are annoyed with the lack of progress by Comhaltas Coláiste na Mumhan that runs the Irish summer college, which offers three-week residential courses in June and two-week residential courses in July for teenagers.

‘We would ask them to step down immediately,’ a spokesperson for the group said.

‘There’s an ambitious group willing to take it on, with the help from a lot of people – not just from the Muskerry Gaeltacht – but from all over Ireland. We ask all TDs across Ireland, along with the Minister for Gaeltacht, to help us ensure that this historic place doesn’t become extinct.’

But in a statement to The Southern Star, the college said that while it was not opening this year, plans were advanced to reopen in 2025. ‘We did not open Coláiste na Mumhan this year as we were not able to secure the services of a suitably expert and experienced management team for the facility. Specifically, one that would be able to meet the standards set out by our board in compliance with Roinn na Gaeltachta,’ the statement said. ‘We are well advanced in our planning for next year including revamping our offering, new marketing and website as well as recruitment of suitable management and staff and will be announcing the details of our planned programme in due course,’ it added.

Coiste Forbartha say they hope the college could be great once again. ‘The college during the summer was a great boost to the local economy and created plenty of jobs for teenagers of the Muskerry Gaeltacht, as well as jobs for local teachers. If we lose Coláiste na Mumhan it would be detrimental to our Gaeltacht status.’

Coláiste na Mumhan has only opened once since 2019 and that was in 2023. It remained closed during the pandemic period, when college bosses cited staffing issues, as well as a lack of guidance on Covid protocols as reasons for the college not operating between 2020 and 2022.

‘Coiste Forbartha helped last year in securing a chef for the college to ensure that the courses would go ahead. We were told that if a chef wasn’t secured, then the courses wouldn’t go ahead last year.’

‘We met with Comhaltas in early January in the hope of us running courses in 2024. Unfortunately, obstacles in the way meant we couldn’t run it.’

‘There was a well-attended meeting in June 2022 between Coláiste na Mumhan and the local community, where promises were made that a long-term plan for the future of the college was nearly complete, and that they would be back within six weeks with an update. However, it’s the summer of 2024 and we haven’t heard anything back since.’