The Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 came into force on 13 February 2006. The Act established the statutory, non-departmental, Gaelic body, Bòrd na Gàidhlig, which is charged with preparing a National Plan for Gaelic. The new National Gaelic Language Plan 2023-2028 is the fourth Plan since The Act was passed and was published by Bòrd na Gàidhlig on 21 December 2023.

Since the inception of the Council in 1975, Gaelic has been promoted in many ways and a bilingual policy has been in place since its inception. In January 2008, as required by The Act, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar officially launched their first Gaelic Language Plan. Following a public consultation during 2022, the final draft of the Comhairle’s fourth iteration of the Gaelic Language Plan was approved by Bòrd na Gàidhlig on 7 November 2023 and is published below in Gàidhlig and English. 

The Comhairle supports the objectives set out in the National Gaelic Language Plan 2023-2028, which aims to arrest the decline, and to plan for the growth, in the number of Gaelic speakers in Scotland. The Comhairle has accordingly put in place the necessary structures and initiatives in its Gaelic Language Plan 2023-2028, which aim to ensure that Gaelic has a sustainable future as an economic, social and cultural asset for the Western Isles.

Related Documents

• Plana Cànain Gàidhlig Comhairle nan Eilean Siar 2023-2028
• Comhairle nan Eilean Siar Gaelic Language Plan 2023-2028

Due to the recent cyber-attack on 7^th November 2023, the Gaelic Policy webpage is currently unavailable. The webpage will be updated once content has been recovered or replaced with more up-to-date documents