An Gúm

Gúm, An (The Scheme), established in 1925 by Ernest Blythe, Minister for Finance in the Irish Free State, to ensure the supply of textbooks and reading matter which the policy of reviving the Irish language required. Translations into Irish, which formed an important part of this project, were mostly from English, although there were also a number from other European languages. Publication was slow and the quality of the published work varied greatly. However, it provided necessary financial support for Irish-language writers, and it also published original writing by such authors as Tomás Ó Criomhthain, Seosamh Mac Grianna, and Máirtín Ó Cadhain. It continues to function as a state publishing agency.