A Gaelic digital TV Channel should be located in the heartland of the Gaelic language-the Outer Hebrides, says the Community Planning Partnership for the area.

The Outer Hebrides Community Planning Partnership has agreed that plans for a digital Gaelic Channel offer a unique opportunity to support and develop the language whilst providing high quality jobs in the Islands.

OHCPP Chairman, Mr Alex Macdonald, said: “The Outer Hebrides has a developed media ‘village’ and many people with considerable experience and skills in the media sector. Too often, many of these people are drawn away from the islands to employment elsewhere. It would make perfect sense to base the main centre of a Gaelic digital channel in the Outer Hebrides as this would directly support the language and culture and encourage many of our young people to stay in the Islands.”

The OHCPP also endorsed the Western Isles Gaelic Language Plan brought forward by the Gaelic Language and Culture Forum. The document aims to strengthen Gaelic as a language in the family and community and to increase the number of Gaelic speakers in the Islands. Copies of the plan are available from Lews Castle College and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar or on the website at: http://www.planacanain.org.uk

Nigel Scott
Communications Officer
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar

Tel: 01851 709389 (Work)
Tel: 07884 236103 (Mobile)
email: nscott@cne-siar.gov.uk