Oireachtas Sub-Committee deliberates Language Commissioner’s resignation
January 27, 2014
Seán Ó Cuirreáin tells some home truths
A meeting of the Oireachtas Sub-Committee on the 20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language welcomed An Coimisinéir Teanga, Seán Ó Cuirreáin, to discuss the commissioner’s resignation due to take place on 23 February 2014.
Seán Ó Cuirreáin announced his resignation to the Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions in December as a result of the Government’s failure to implement language legislation at the level of the State. The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht announced this week that expressions of interest are now being accepted for the role of An Coimisinéir Teanga.
During today’s meeting, Seán Ó Cuirreáin detailed the marginalisation of the Irish language by state authorities. He said that while he believes there are those within the State sector who support the language, “there are stronger and more widespread forces in place who have little or no concern for the future of our national language”.
The absence of all Government representatives at today’s meeting was sharply criticised by TD’s and Senators in attendance.
Regarding the 20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language, the Commissioner stated that the Government’s attitude towards the Irish-speaking and Gaeltacht communities is “speak Irish among yourselves, but don’t speak it to us”.
The Strategy was published by the Government in 2010 with the aim of increasing the number of people who speak Irish outside of the education system from 83,000 to 250,000 and to increase the number of daily Irish speakers in the Gaeltacht by 25%. Nine distinct areas for proposed initiatives are set out in the Strategy.
The Sub-Committee which met for the third time today were informed by the Commissioner that there is no independent audit or review being conducted on the implementation of the Strategy, a process of “self-assessment” is how he described it.
Deception
Referring to a talk given by Seosamh Mac Donncha, NUI Galway, a t last year’s Tóstal na Gaeilge, the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht was described as a “sub-section located far from the centre of power”, and according to the Commissioner, a organisation which is “operating in those circumstances could not protect or preserve what is left of the Gaeltacht, and we are only fooling ourselves if we think it could”.
While discussing the language planning process, the Commissioner stated that the Gaeltacht Act “placed liability for language planning on Gaeltacht communities who never sought that responsibility. Economic planning would not be left to such local communities nor would they be given responsibility to decide locally on matters concern housing, roads or the environment. But when it comes to the language, well, that’s another story”.
The Department of Education and Skills’ attitude towards the Irish language, and it’s official stance throughout two investigations undertaken by oifig an Choimisinéara Teanga, is clearly a matter of deep concern for the Commissioner, particularly due to the emphasis placed on the education system in the Strategy.
In one case, a Gaeltacht primary school had been directed by the Department to appoint a teacher from a panel of surplus teachers although neither the teachers themselves, nor the school authority in question, believed that any of the available teachers had sufficient Irish to teach in a Gaeltacht school.
In another case, the Department refused to provide the option of studying the subjects of the curriculum through Irish up to Leaving Certificate level to students in one of the strongest Gaeltacht regions remaining in Co. Donegal. The Department put forward legal and practical arguments in both cases. The Commissioner believes that “the root of our problem is that we have never made an adequate connection between the learning of Irish and its subsequent use”.
Parting words
If the Strategy is to succeed, the Commissioner believes that the starting point must always be based on reality, and the truth, rather than on a presumption based on unfounded hope. “Groupthink has no place in matters as important as the survival of a language”, he said.
With the end of Ó Cuirreáin’s reign in sight, the Government’s position on this issue remains more critical than ever.
“I would say to you with certainty here today in the Houses of the Oireachtas, that it is with heavy hearts that the people of the Gaeltacht and the Irish speaking community in general will approach the centenary of the 1916 Rising in two years’ time if our national language is to be merely a symbolic language, and rather than being an integral part of our culture and heritage, that it is pushed aside, marginalised and left in the in the halfpenny place in the life of this nation”.
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