Plaid Cymru The Party of Wales MEP, Jill Evans will address a conference in Aberystwyth on Monday (May 22) in order to discuss the future of teaching Welsh to adults and to compare the situation in Wales with other countries in Europe.

Mrs Evans – who is Deputy President of Plaid Cymru The Party of Wales – will share her experiences in the field as a member of the European Parliament and discuss the situations in countries such as Catalunya, Latvia, Galicia and Brittany. She will also be supporting the call to establish a body to promote the teaching of Welsh to adults.

According to Jill Evans:

"Language policies vary widely from place to place but this does not mean that we cannot learn interesting and useful lessons from other countries’ experiences.

"What is vital is that there is a commitment on the part of the government, good will from the people and the necessary resources made available in order to initiate the changes that must be made. Here in Wales, I see no sign of any commitment from this present government and that is currently the most damaging factor.

"We need to establish a specialist body in order to promote the teaching of Welsh to Adults – an institution that would be able to target resources according to need and coordinate provision. Without such an institution I fear that there will be no national focus on efforts to teach Welsh to adults and therefore no way of promoting growth in this key sector."

Diwedd/Ends.