The Minister for the Gaeltacht, Éamon Ó Cuív, has announced the establishment of what is believed to be the first ever Cabinet sub-committee to deal with the future of the Irish language.
A major linguistic study on the use of Irish in the Gaeltacht was published today.
It says Irish will die out as the main language in Gaeltacht areas within 20 years if radical measures are not introduced to halt the decline.
The committee is to agree an action plan to secure the future of Irish within 12 months.
