FRUSTRATED locals in Ballingeary are asking those in charge of Coláiste na Mumhan, which provides Irish language residential courses for teenagers during the summer, to let the people of the village take charge and run the college themselves.
The call was made ahead of an open-air public meeting organised by Coiste Forbarhtha Béal Áth’n Ghaorthaidh outside the college on Wednesday night following the recent announcement from Comhaltas Coláiste na Mumhan that the college, which is the country’s oldest Irish summer college, will remain closed again for the coming summer season.
Speaking to The Southern Star, chairperson of Coiste Forbarhtha Béal Áth’n Ghaorthaidh Tadhg Dineen, said the situation has become hugely frustrating for people in the village following the latest announcement.
‘The college here has only been opened for five weeks since 2019 and the meeting is to gauge the public feeling on the whole situation. We are asking the people in charge of the coláiste to let the people of Ballingeary run it,’ said Tadhg.
‘If they gave it to the Ballingeary community we would have it open for the whole summer plus more beyond that. We are interested in our village and what is happening here.’
He pointed out that there are actual waiting lists in operation at other Irish language colleges and that the closure for the second year in a row is causing reputational damage to the brand of Coláiste na Mumhan.
‘Coiste Forbartha Béal Átha has attempted to negotiate the running of the courses several times with Comhaltas Coláiste na Mumhan, who have shown a complete lack of good faith, and have now demonstrated their complete incompetence by failing to come up with an offering for students for the coming session.’
As well as the cultural loss of the Irish language being taught to students, there is also the loss of income to the village as a whole. Last month the board of Coláiste na Mumhan announced in a statement that they had decided to postpone Irish language courses from summer 2025 to summer 2026.
A spokesperson said the decision was made because they did not have sufficient students signed up at this point in time:
‘We acknowledge that the reason for the relatively low student numbers this year was down to the nature, scope and timing of out recruitment campaign. To address this we have already designed a full digital marketing plan for next year’s campaign as well as implementing an earlier start.’
