ULTACH Trust
Encyclopedia
The ULTACH Trust is a charitable trust
Charitable trust
A charitable trust is an irrevocable trust established for charitable purposes, and is a more specific term than "charitable organization".-United States:...

 established in 1989 aimed at promoting the Irish language
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...

 in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

. Its current director is Aodán Mac Póilin
Aodán Mac Póilin
Aodán Mac Póilin is an Irish language activist in Northern Ireland.He was born in Belfast and lives in the Shaw's Road Irish-speaking community. He graduated from the New University of Ulster with a degree and M.Phil. in Irish studies...

.

Name

The word Ultach means 'person from Ulster
Ulster
Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...

' but in the case of the organisation it is also an acronym for 'Ulster Language, Traditions And Cultural Heritage', therefore the organisation's title appears in capital letters.

History

The principal aim of the organisation is to promote the Irish language throughout the entire community of Northern Ireland. A core objective is to encourage cross-community involvement in the language, and the membership of the Board of Trustees reflects both major religious traditions. The offices of ULTACH are also located in 'neutral' Belfast city centre to facilitate visits by members of all sections of the community.

Originally supported by both the Central Community Relations Unit, a branch of the Department of Finance and Personnel
Department of Finance and Personnel
The Department of Finance and Personnel is a devolved Northern Ireland government department in the Northern Ireland Executive...

 in Northern Ireland, and by the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs
Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs
The Department of Children and Youth Affairs is a department of the Government of Ireland. It is led by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs.-Departmental team:...

 in the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

, the Trust is currently core-funded by Foras na Gaeilge
Foras na Gaeilge
Foras na Gaeilge is the governing body of the Irish language, responsible for the promotion of the language throughout the island of Ireland. Its name can be translated into English as "The Irish Language Body", although the body has no official English-language name...

, the Irish-language agency of The North/South Language Body
The North/South Language Body
The North/South Language Body is an implementation body, provided for by the Belfast Agreement, that exists to implement policies agreed by Ministers in the North/South Ministerial Council in Ireland with regard to the Irish and Ulster-Scots languages.It is a single body reporting to the...

.

The Trust was for some time the only dedicated Irish language funding body
Funding body
A funding body is an organisation that provides research funding in the form of research grants or scholarships. These include:* Arts councils* Research councils for the funding of science....

 in Northern Ireland. Since 1990, the organisation has distributed approximately £1.5 million in grant-aid to hundreds of Irish language projects. Approximately 50% of this funding was allocated to the Irish-medium education sector, and most of the rest was used to support the voluntary sector.

As a consequence of the Belfast Agreement
Belfast Agreement
The Good Friday Agreement or Belfast Agreement , sometimes called the Stormont Agreement, was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process...

 of 1998, structural changes were implemented to support the Irish language in Northern Ireland. The Trust now tends to concentrate its resources on in-house projects and partnerships with other organisations rather than grants. The following list summarises the Trust’s current key areas of activity: engaging in cross-community work; developing learning resources; forming strategic partnerships with relevant community, research, educational and statutory agencies; advising government and statutory agencies on language planning and policy issues; campaigning for the establishment of an Irish-language broadcasting sector in Northern Ireland; publishing material on the Irish language and related issues; working towards an effective Irish language arts policy for Northern Ireland; initiating innovative language projects; and funding Irish language projects.

Irish in Northern Ireland

The Irish language can be a controversial and contentious issue in Northern Ireland. Through its cross-community work, the Trust seeks to stimulate interest in Irish across the political and religious divide, and to provide opportunities to learn and use the language in areas and among communities which are not normally associated with it.

The experiences of contemporary Protestant learners of the language are recorded on the website. Some of the results of this research are available on-line at the trust's website. Other board and staff members have explored the hidden tradition of Protestant involvement with Irish in the past. The Trust seeks to identify obstacles to Protestant and unionist engagement with the language and to raise awareness within the Catholic and nationalist community to the difficulties experienced by learners from other traditions.

Projects

In its work in developing learning resources, the Trust was involved in the development of Now You’re Talking, the first multi-media Irish language teaching pack to use the Ulster dialect. The 30 half-hour television programmes have been shown on BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

, RTÉ
RTE
RTÉ is the abbreviation for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, the public broadcasting service of the Republic of Ireland.RTE may also refer to:* Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey...

, TG4
TG4
TG4 is a public service broadcaster for Irish language speakers. The channel has been on-air since 31 October 1996 in the Republic of Ireland and since April 2005 in Northern Ireland....

 and Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

. The Trust is now attempting to secure copyright for the course in order to ensure its continued publication. The Trust commissioned and published, in conjunction with the Gaeltacht
Gaeltacht
is the Irish language word meaning an Irish-speaking region. In Ireland, the Gaeltacht, or an Ghaeltacht, refers individually to any, or collectively to all, of the districts where the government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant language, that is, the vernacular spoken at home...

 authority, Údarás na Gaeltachta
Údarás na Gaeltachta
Údarás na Gaeltachta , abbreviated ÚnaG, is a regional state agency which is responsible for the economic, social and cultural development of nominally Irish-speaking regions of the Republic of Ireland...

, two volumes of Abair Leat!, a guide for teachers of adult learners of Irish. ULTACH staff also produce Taisce Focal, a learners' supplement for the on-line Irish language magazine BEO! http://www.beo.ie. This series aims to expose intermediate and advanced learners to the natural colloquial Irish of the Gaeltacht. In response to numerous requests, the Trust has published a selection of these articles in book form, with two accompanying CDs.

Through lectures, conferences, articles, reports, submissions to statutory bodies and occasional publications, the Trust has sought to stimulate debate on a number of topics. These have included themes such as education, cross-community access, cultural politics, history, Irish language arts, and cultural links with Gaelic Scotland.

The Trust is particularly active in the area of Irish-medium broadcasting and has been campaigning to persuade the arts establishment to provide adequate funding, support and evaluative structures for Irish language arts in Northern Ireland.

External links

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