All this talk about Irish is rubbish
Márta 19, 2013
The view in your editorial (Throwing good money after bad? Mar 13) is built on the supposed fact “that we spend something around €1bn a year just teaching
Irish.” This figure is rubbish.
What’s the annual budget for the Department of Education and how could it be claimed that the teaching of Irish could account for such a high proportion of it?
It is absurd to suggest that €1bn a year could be saved from the education budget by scrapping Irish. The writer assumes that the policy of the State has been a failure. On the contrary, and given the incompetence of many of those charged with responsibility, the policy has been remarkably successful.
Most Irish people are sympathetic to the language and 1.5m of them claim competence in it. I agree, it’s a poor reflection on the education system if some people don’t know a ‘capall’ from a ‘bó’ or ‘bainne’ from ‘tae’. With TG4, new social media, etc, Irish has a greater presence in the public space than ever before. It also has a greater capacity to attract and mould a new language community.
If Irish is to have a future, it will be as a second language, of choice (teanga roghnaithe), for citizens who want to use it. In the David and Goliath context, in which Irish struggles to survive, there is little or no public understanding of the concept of a second language of choice. The attitude is ‘why would you use Irish when everyone speaks English, and you have perfect English yourself?’
This was the underlying attitude in the case in the annual report of An Coimisinéir Teanga — of the Garda who arrested the young man who wanted to conduct his business through Irish. The constitutional position of Irish notwithstanding, historically there has never been much acceptance among the public for the linguistic rights of the Irish-speaking minority, be they native speakers or speakers by choice.
Paradoxically, as Irish retreats in the Gaeltacht, and as its wider public profile increases (thanks mainly to TG4), there are indications that a more positive attitude is beginning to emerge. The Government needs to build on this. Most of all, government policy needs to be focused on making it possible for people to use Irish in the public domain.
In fairness, this was the thinking behind the Oireachtas’s unanimous passing of the Official Languages Act, 10 years ago. As usual, the sentiment was correct, but the practical steps needed to make it happen have so far been lacking.
Seán Mag Leannáin
Bánóg Rua,
Cillín Chaoimhín,
Co Chill Mhantáin
www.irishexaminer.com
