The cash, £80,000 in total, is being made available via three schemes which will operate between now and the end of September, and which are being run by CnaG as part of their contract with Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

The first programme is a Bilingual Signage and Marketing scheme. This is worth £25,000 in total and is open to private companies, social enterprises or community groups and charities within the HIE area. A maximum of £2000 is available for each applicant, at up to 70% of costs to install bilingual signage on buildings, vehicles, or for other marketing materials. This has been a successful scheme in previous years with some 100 companies or bodies having successfully implemented and benefitted from bilingual signage or marketing.
 
The second strand is a Gaelic Innovation Fund worth £20,000. Successful applicants, based within the HIE area could receive up to a maximum of £15,000 and up to 90% of costs to develop innovative new projects or services using or linked to Gaelic. These awards are especially geared to projects or products which could ultimately be developed for the market-place, and in particular within the key sectors of the area's economy: creative industries; energy; financial and business services; food and drink; life sciences; and tourism.

Finally the Community Regeneration Scheme is worth a total of £35,000. This is only open to community groups and social enterprises based within HIE's Fragile Areas, loosely described as most of the west coast of the Highlands, including Sutherland, the north of Skye and most of the Western Isles.

Comunn na Gàidhlig Chief Executive, Donald MacNeill said: "We are delighted to working with HIE and to be able to launch these important and useful award schemes. It can't be denied these days that there are many opportunities to be found in Gaelic for companies and communities. Here at CnaG we believe these schemes are a means of encouraging people to take advantage of those opportunities.

"I think its clear that these programmes are all useful, but we're especially interested in the Innovation Fund. Using this support, who knows what might be developed? New technologies or projects that could put Gaelic on a world stage?"

Full story in this week's Stornoway Gazette, out on Thursday