The business of Irish colleges

It is a phenomenon that is older than the State itself. A model that developed organically from the Irish cultural revival more than 120 years ago to one that has become a rite of passage for thousands of young secondary school students each year.

Coláistí samhraidh, or Irish language Gaeltacht summer colleges, are attended by about 26,000 students annually, and are worth an estimated €50 million each year to Gaeltacht regions in both direct and indirect investment.

Over the course of 10 summer weeks Irish-speaking Gaeltacht families host students from all over Ireland while they attend two or three-week courses to improve their fluency in Irish.

Courses typically cost €800-€1,200 for two or three weeks, including meals, accommodation, classes, activities and transport.

From the day of arrival to the day they leave, students are immersed in the language. They spend mornings attending informal classes while afternoons are filled with sports, arts and cultural activities – all conducted in Irish.

“There’s an excitement on the first day, there’s a buzz in the air,” says Siobhán Bairéad, director and owner of Coláiste Chamuis, in the Connemara Gaeltacht.

“We have a very high percentage return rate of students, so you see all the reunions of students who have not seen each other since the previous year,” she says. “They’re crying coming, and they’re crying going home.”

Not only do the colleges help to improve students’ language skills, but they also play an important role in creating a deeper connection and understanding with each other, and of Irish as a living language.

“They learn Irish in a social way and build lifetime memories and friendships as a result,” says Bairéad. “If you can create pathways of positive reinforcement and you can associate positive experiences and happy experiences with the language, you are always going to have a positive result.

“We provide the environment, and they bring the magic,” she says.

Minister for State for the Gaeltacht Thomas Byrne has acknowledged he is in “no doubt” that there is a crisis in the Gaeltacht. He was referring to recent census results which showed the perilous state of the language in the Gaeltacht where little more than 20,000 people are daily speakers of Irish.

Conradh na Gaeilge has called on the Government to establish a taskforce to develop the sector.

There are up to 50 colleges in total, and as Coláiste Chamuis’ Siobhán Bairéad explains, the range of providers is diverse.

“There are many different types of colleges: there are comharchumainn [co-operatives], there are private limited companies, there are companies limited by private guarantees and State-funded organisations such as Coláiste na bhFiann.

“So, you have a variety of different structures or corporate structures behind what is essentially the same product, which makes us a nuanced and ad hoc, niche industry.”

Coláiste Chamuis caters for about 3,000 students in three locations across south Connemara each year.

“We have about 45 mná tí, some full-time staff, but over the 10 weeks of the summer season we employ upwards of 150 people,” says Bairéad.

“That has a knock-on effect on the economy – from independent suppliers such as the ice-cream van and the chipper to the bus companies, we try to keep activities within the Gaeltacht as best we can. We all support each other.”

Overall responsibility for the colleges rests with the directors and management of each college. However, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Gaeltacht oversees the recognition of households and all must provide a valid engineering certificate every two years and household members over 16 years of age must be Garda vetted every three years.

Colleges were forced to close in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, plunging the sector into crisis. The break in continuity created new challenges. “We had to readjust,” says Bairéad. “The way we do things changed fundamentally as a result of Covid.

“Many mná tí couldn’t come back at the start, as some were using their spare rooms for remote working, their adult children had returned home, or there might have been vulnerable grandparents in the house.

“We realised that in order to protect the 10 weeks of the summer that we would have to look at other areas and ways to diversify our business model,” she says. “We built our own campus and are open nearly all year round. We run school tours, courses in adult education, executive training, and pilot schemes teaching professional-level Irish.”

Maria Nic Dhonncha, spokeswoman for Comhchoiste Náisiúnta na gColáistí Samhraidh, the national federation of Irish colleges, who is a bean an tí herself, says: “We lost up to 40 per cent of our mná tí in the year after Covid. While they are gradually coming back, it will take us years to make up for the loss.”

Demand was so high for places when the colleges came back last year that some parents offered to provide air mattresses, which wasn’t allowed for health and safety reasons.

Now, a year after the World Health Organisation declared an end to the global public health emergency, remote work has moved to a hybrid model, increasing office attendance and freeing up houses during summer. Some colleges have reduced course duration from three to two weeks.

“It mightn’t suit people to work 10 weeks, but they might want to work for six,” says Bairéad. “They’ll work around family life as best they can. We added another few houses recently and have freed up a few spaces on our courses for July and August.”

The impact of tourism, holiday home rentals and restrictive planning regulations continue to be a factor in securing accommodation for students in some locations.

“It is very hard to compete in areas such as the Ring of Kerry and with the popularity of Airbnb,” says Nic Dhonncha. “There are also problems with young couples who want to build houses in Gaeltacht areas. If they cannot build houses, how could they keep students?”

The Government provides a daily subsidy to support householders who host students in Gaeltacht areas, but the colleges themselves do not receive direct subsidies. A capitation grant worth €52 per student was cut in 2008 as part of the Government’s austerity policy and has not been restored.

In a bid to attract new entrants, a once-off grant of €2,000 for mná tí to make their homes compliant with health and safety regulations was increased to €6,000. The daily payment to mná tí was increased from €10 to €13 per student, and the maximum number of students permitted in approved accommodation increased from 12 to 16.

In total, the grant costs the State €5 million a year.

Colleges pay the mná tí €1.20 for every euro that the State pays, guaranteeing a minimum daily rate of €15.60 for each student. Added to the daily payment, mná tí are paid just under €30 per head a day.

“More than 500 Gaeltacht families benefited from this grant last year and more than 26,000 students and some 50 colleges benefited indirectly,” a department spokesperson said.

Summer visitors to the Gaeltacht will often see buses winding their way down narrow country roads bringing students to and from colleges. Activities vary from college to college, depending on facilities, and the weather. Most colleges operate digital detox policies and many limit smartphone use to 30 minutes in the evening.

“The digital detox is important from the perspective that the students are not reinforcing what they’ve learned during the day with English,” says Bairéad. “We also see the behavioural benefit of it. The girls wear less make-up by the end of the course. They are not as self-conscious and are more engaged with each other.

“They will act in the way kids used to act in the 1980s and 1990s because they’re not being filmed; they know it’s not going to go up online.

“You will find that 12 lads will go on stage and will happily sing their hearts out about something silly but would never do that if they knew it was going to be up on Snapchat or wherever,” she says. “It’s about creating a little safe pocket where they can take a break. It’s not easy being a teenager these days.”