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Gaelic Adventure

Gaelic Adventure and the Irish language in the news ...

• O Cuiv calls for 250,000 Irish speakers to save language
• Government blocks probe to find if judge can speak Irish
• Xenophobic Irish 'lovers' a turn-off in any language
• Cromwell as 'daddy of democracy'?
• Irish: Ulster Bank says ‘No' to teen
• Irish place names in Gaeltacht still favoured
• Total immersion is critical if Irish is to be rescued
• Publican's challenge to Irish legal ban

O Cuiv calls for 250,000 Irish speakers to save language

Friday April 04 2008

Senan Hogan
Ireland needs 250,000 Irish speakers by 2028 to save the future of the language, Gaeltacht Minister Eamon O Cuiv said yesterday. Speaking during a visit to the US, Mr O Cuiv called for more courage and leadership to ensure the native tongue thrives in a globalised world. The Government is currently preparing a 20-year strategy for the Irish language, due to be launched before the end of the year. Mr O Cuiv yesterday launched the Fulbright Irish Language Program in the City University of New York (CUNY) in the Bronx. Lehman College in CUNY teaches Irish to students from dozens of diverse ethnic backgrounds

09 April 2008

Irish Examiner

Government blocks probe to find if judge can speak Irish

By Niall Murray and John Fallon
AN EFFORT by the Irish language ombudsman to establish if a district judge could speak fluent Irish has been blocked by the Government. An Coimisineir Teanga, Seán Ó Cuirreáin, launched the investigation after a district judge was appointed to a Gaeltacht area of Donegal. The 1924 Courts of Justice Act states that a judge allocated to a district where the Irish language is in general use must have enough of a grasp of the language in order that an interpreter will not be required. Mr Ó Cuirreáin said he received a complaint by Conradh na Gaeilge following the appointment. However, the efforts to establish if the judge could speak Irish were blocked by the Government. Mr Ó Cuirreáin said that this is the first instance on record where the Government impeded the work of a state ombudsman.

In the case of the judge's appointment in Donegal, Mr Ó Cuirreáin sought a report from the commissioner’s office from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. He also sought access to the relevant files. However, a certificate was issued by the secretary general to the Government covering most of the relevant records. Such a certificate, under the Official Languages Act, denies access to specified information. Mr Ó Cuirreáin said that he had to discontinue the investigation as a result. Without access to the full information on file it would be unsafe to make findings or issue recommendations,” said Mr Ó Cuirreáin.

He also said the state could save money rather than add expense by ensuring greater numbers of staff have sufficient Irish to deal with the public wishing to use the language.

He said recruitment and training in the state sector appeared insufficient to ensure an adequate number of staff were competent in the Irish language to provide services through Irish as well as English.

His office received more than 600 complaints from the public about difficulties accessing state services through Irish last year, bringing total complaints since his office was set up in 2004 to almost 2,000. Almost one-third of complaints came from Dublin, and people from Galway, Kerry and Donegal made more than 40% of all complaints.

“I am not making the case for a return to compulsory Irish for state employees but I believe that a policy of compulsory English is not adequate either when members of the public deal with state bodies,” he said. “Such a move should have no additional cost implications.

“In fact, it would be more economical to employ people with competence in both Irish and English than the current system, which in many State organisations requires resorting to external commercial translation agencies to deal with the simplest of letters in Irish,” he said.

Xenophobic Irish 'lovers' a turn-off in any language

So many hate Irish because it has been used to bludgeon us for years, writes Emer O'Kelly

Sunday April 13 2008 irish Independent

An eminent Irish language literary figure said to me last week that she had been startled recently to realise what a deep and widespread hatred there is of the Irish language in this country. She was absolutely right; there is: although this is seldom acknowledged by the small core of those who wish to promote Irish.
The conventional approach among Irish language proponents is to claim that everyone loves the language, regards it as their first and native tongue, and would wish to use it daily if only they had the opportunity. Equally, they claim that everyone has at least a reasonable smattering of the language, and the majority of people have a working knowledge of it. In their minds, those who don't speak Irish, therefore, are bloody-minded, anti-national, negative bigots.
And that is exactly why there is such a hatred of Irish. Its politically-minded proponents (as opposed to those who just speak Irish fluently and gracefully without using it as a weapon) refuse to accept the irrelevance of the language in most people's lives, and by their antagonism towards that majority view, have gone a long way to institutionalising negativity towards the language. And this has been endorsed, unfortunately, by the annual report of the Coimisineir Teanga Sean O Cuirreain, published last week. The language commissioner is the State ombudsman for the Irish language, his appointment in itself a proof that it is perceived as having victim status. Looking at the report, the detached observer can only be reduced to despair or helpless laughter, or a combination of both (in either of the State's official languages.)
According to the coimisineir, a "senior government official" has blocked an investigation into the appointment of a District Justice in the Donegal Gaeltacht. The language employed in the accusation is portentous, certainly more portentous than, for instance, any of the language used in the investigation into Garda corruption in Donegal, which the majority of people might be inclined to think of greater significance than the appointment of a District Justice who doesn't happen to speak fluent Irish.
Conradh na Gaeilge complained to the Coimisineir Teanga about this alleged breach of the 1924 Courts of Justice Act, which requires that "so far as may be practicable", a judge assigned to such a district must have sufficient knowledge of the language to obviate the need for an interpreter. So the coimisineir went to war, and demanded a report on the alleged horror from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
The Secretary General of the Department responded by issuing a certificate, which under the Official Languages Act, denies access to specified information. And while many of us may think such an action a bit high-handed, we would still say that a major (and expensive) war of words is ludicrous concerning such a small matter.
The reality is that in 1924, there would have been many residents of Gaeltacht areas who would not have had a good grasp of English. And while the Language Secret Police may well lament that such pure souls have been defiled by having learned the despised language of the Sasanach, that knowledge means that they can understand perfectly in a court presided over by a Judge with less than perfect Irish. And that is the point of language in a court of law.
The coimisineir's report is indulgent, however, about the failure to have penalty points notices for driving offences issued in Irish: even though the Irish language requirements for the gardai have been relaxed, it isn't their fault. It is because the Government (shame on them, is the implication) have contracted the administration system to a private company.
Some of us might think, given the alarmingly high percentage of accidents involving alcohol, speed, and incompetent driving among non-nationals from new EU states, we should be a lot more bothered about the failure to issue penalty points notices (and indeed signpost our roads) in other European languages rather than getting up in arms about Irish.
Another investigation carried out by the intrepid coimisineir concerned a Health Services Executive booklet about public health dental services. It was provided to a Gaeltacht school . . . in English. Please, Miss, me teeth are aching in Irish.
Equally, the National Disability Authority published a booklet in English only, leading to a complaint to the coimisineir, and triggering an investigation. Again, one wonders about the thousands of Poles, Chinese, Lithuanians, Romanians, Ukrainians, Brazilians and others living in this country, whose linguistic needs are totally ignored. With the possible exception of the Brazilians, it is probable that the numbers of people of each of those nationalities separately adds up to more people than live in all the Gaeltacht areas put together. And all the people in the Gaeltacht areas have a perfect grasp of English.
It is probably not the fault of the Coimisineir Teanga that this mindless list of petty nonsense has been printed and published; he received the complaints, he had to investigate them. That's his job. But it's the mindset of the people who made the complaints that is more than ridiculous: it's frightening.
It betrays a level of defensive bitterness, a mental picture of clenched jaws. It reminds us that generations of people who didn't speak fluent Irish were actively discriminated against in education and employment as a matter of course and so-called patriotism in this country. That's the time viewed with nostalgic regret by the language police.
There was, for instance, an automatic bonus of 10 per cent in public examinations if the candidate took the exam "through Irish". At a time when most families struggled to put their children through second level education, there were grants towards university education for Irish speakers.
And yet they didn't manage to "revive" the language; they came close to destroying it because they made it a badge of narrow, right-wing nationalism, the antithesis of what culture should stand for. They're still trying to do it; they don't love the language, they're merely language xenophobics. And they count their fellow citizens who can't, or merely don't wish to speak Irish as foreigners, certainly as less Irish than they are.
That's why so many people hate Irish; it's been used to bludgeon them for years. And the sooner those who really love the language admit it, and take them on, the better.

Cromwell as 'daddy of democracy'?

By Freya McClements BBC News

Sinn F�in councillor Billy Leonard (left) with the DUP's Samuel Cole
An evil tyrant or the father of democracy?
That's the debate splitting opinion in Coleraine, after a row broke out between local councillors over the legacy of Oliver Cromwell.
During the meeting of the Council's Policy and Resources Committee on Tuesday, the DUP's Samuel Cole said Cromwell was a defender of democracy. But Sinn F�in councillor Billy Leonard said Cromwell's record in Ireland made him "no father of democracy".
The English leader is notorious in Ireland for massacring thousands of people after the siege of Drogheda in 1649.
"He was a very controversial figure and I would agree with that, but there are many modern historians who would laud him as a hero of liberty," said Mr Cole.
"Everyone sees him as a daddy of democracy in these islands.
"He was appointed lord protector of England and he is the father of the democracy that we now enjoy," said Mr Cole.
"Given the new dispensation of peace and reconciliation, I don't want to dig up the past as regards Cromwell's activity in Ireland," he said. His colleague on Coleraine Borough Council, Sinn F�in's Mr Leonard, disagreed.
We all know what Cromwell was in Ireland and he was no father of democracy
Billy Leonard, Sinn F�in
"I think it is absolutely a pathetic reference," he said.
"We don't even have to mention the murder and mayhem, we just have to mention the land settlement, where he just took over 14 counties of Ireland. "We all know what Cromwell was in Ireland and he was no father of democracy, let's be frank about that."
Historian Dr Eamon Phoenix agreed Cromwell was a controversial figure: "The essential irony is that he was a republican who established the first English republic.
"He was also a very strong Protestant, a Puritan, and wanted to reinforce the tide of the Reformation.
"He arrived in Ireland in 1649 and as nationalist legend has it, passed like lightning over the land.
"He laid siege to Drogheda, and when the garrison refused to surrender, under the rules of medieval warfare it was possible to annihilate a garrison that refused to surrender, and about 3,000 garrison and 1,000 civilians were killed, which sent a tremor of fear through nationalist Ireland," he said.
Mr Phoenix said Cromwell's final settlement in Ireland was very harsh.
"Historians say had Cromwell been more moderate, and gone for a settlement which allowed Catholics to remain on their land and practice their religion, the war would have ended and the relationship between the two islands might have been different.
"But instead, he inflicted the Cromwellian land settlement, which meant Catholic landowners were transplanted from the three provinces with the best land to the west of Ireland where the land was more barren - 'to hell or to Connacht'," said Mr Phoenix.

Irish: Ulster Bank says ‘No’ to teen

North Belfast News

by Alana Fearon

A Glengormley man has slammed Ulster Bank for dishing his family out “the ultimate insult” after refusing to accept his son was Irish. Young Conor McAllister had his Irish nationality scribbled out right under his nose while opening a new account at the Glengormley Ulster Bank branch.
It seems the bank was unable to process his application form because the 18-year-old described himself as Irish, after handing over a British passport as identification.
Too confused to query the “ridiculous” policy, the young man left the bank in some what of a quandary.
“Utterly infuriated”, Conor's dad Diarmuid accused the bank of subjecting his son to “a form of racism” and vowed to take his complaints all the way to the top in search of the rationale behind the “inexcusable” bank policy.
“I am literally shaking with fury over this whole ridiculous incident and I want some answers,” he fumed.
“I would like someone to tell me what exactly has my son's bank account got to do with his nationality?
“How dare anyone tell him what he can and cannot be, especially when it comes to our nationality of which we are very proud.
“At the end of the day this amounts to nothing more than racism and I want an apology from the bank.”
Baffled by what went on in the bank, Conor said he wished he had just given his driver's licence as a form of identification.
“If I had given them my licence they'd have been none the wiser and I would still be Irish,” he said.
“I don't know what went on but I can't understand why effectively I was told I couldn't access my money unless I said I was British.”
Refusing to comment on the McAllister case, an Ulster Bank spokeswoman said the Ulster Bank Group was committed to providing “the best possible banking service” to the local community.
“We have stringent policies and procedures in place for current account openings to ensure the security of our customers is protected,” she said.
“However, we are not in a position to comment on individual customer cases.”

30 April 2008

Gormley: Irish place names in Gaeltacht still favoured

By Dan Collins
AS ENVIRONMENT Minister John Gormley takes steps to resolve the dispute over the name of Dingle/An Daingean in Co Kerry, he has stressed that the state still favours the use of Irish place names within Gaeltacht areas.
And any future plebiscites to ascertain the views of the population living within the area regarding the change of a place name must be held in secret, he has ruled.

He proposes to introduce legislative changes aimed at resolving the dispute concerning the name of An Daingean, while giving greater recognition to the Irish language where place name changes are proposed.
“The debate over the name of Dingle in Kerry has drawn attention to a number of issues which need to be addressed where place name changes are proposed. The local government code relating to place names does not reflect the reality that place names in Ireland generally have both an Irish and English version,” said Mr Gormley.

“I therefore propose to amend local government law to ensure that all future proposals for place name changes must specify the proposed name in Irish and English, unless it is indicated an Irish name only is to be adopted.” It remained government policy, he said, that the names of places within the Gaeltacht should generally be recognised by the state in Irish.

“However, where a local community wishes to vote to change the name to an alternative Irish only name, or to an Irish and English version, that version will supersede any place names order under the Official Languages Act 2003,” he said.

Because the Dingle plebiscite sought to introduce a bilingual name, Dingle Daingean Uí Chúis, Mr Gormley proposes the opportunity would be taken in legislation to provide that Daingean Uí Chúis should be the official name of the town of An Daingean in the Irish language, with Dingle being the official name in the English language.

Total immersion is critical if Irish is to be rescued

Mary Hanafin's department has become a pawn for those who wish to sabotage the language, writes Marc Coleman

Sunday April 13 2008 Sunday Independent
If you will it, it is no dream. Yes, an Irish- speaking Ireland -- not exclusively Irish speaking, but bilingual -- can re-emerge. It will require a unity of vision and willpower that has been lacking in Irish politics these past few decades. Over a half century ago, Israel rescued Hebrew from obscurity. It was then a language spoken by a few thousand persons, but it is now flourishing with around five million speakers. Hebrew's revival is proof that Ireland can do the same with Irish. The signs are hopeful. The incoming Taoiseach, for one, wants to see the language flourish. Taking the order of business on behalf of the outgoing Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Labour leader Eamonn Gilmore sustained a good quarter-hour of leaders' debate in the Dail in Irish.
Another positive sign is the depoliticisation of Irish. By voting to de-politicise its constitution in relation to the North, Conradh na nGaeilge has greatly expand its appeal (stressing the Protestant religion of its founder, Douglas Hyde, will also reach out to Protestants in the north). Unfortunately, there are those who are willingly sabotaging this good work. God knows Mary Hanafin is not one of them. But she has become their pawn. As she pointed out to me when I interviewed her, she has done more than many ministers in her brief to promote the language in secondary school. But secondary school is the last resort for learning Irish, and if we are to maintain spoken Irish in the Gaeltacht and beyond, then maintaining the policy of total immersion -- a policy Hanafin's department is trying to destroy -- is critical.
Before going any further, I should clarify that we are not talking about plumbing policies west of the Shannon. Immersion -- so called -- is a highly successful policy of educating children in a bilingual environment. To compensate for hearing one language at home and on TV, kids are educated totally in another language for the first two or three years of education before switching to dual language teaching. The crucial word here is "totally". Until it can compete with the dominant language around it, Irish must be given a leg up and a fighting chance in primary school. Introducing any English into those crucial early years -- as the Department's notorious circular 0044/2007 requires -- defeats the policy.
As Donal O Hanafein of NUI Maynooth has shown, immersion children are better not just in Irish, but in English as well. Given this evidence, the Department of Education should be enforcing immersion across the country.
Unfortunately, when it comes to this issue the minister's policy advisers have little interest in evidence -- and if ever there was a case of a great minister being given bad and unsupported advice, this is it.
But neither she nor her advisers are responsible for the root of the problems facing Irish. The first is what can only be described as a second plantation of the Gaeltacht whereby native Irish speakers are becoming strangers in our own environment. Ironically, the Cabinet recently decided to issue a stamp to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Plantation of Ulster. Like Conradh na nGaeilge's decision, it was a generous gesture towards the million Irish Protestants whose history and origins deserve respect and recognition. Were a second wave of incomers not threatening the Gaeltacht's existence, it might be easier to celebrate this commemoration.
Like a glacier, the Gaeltacht has shrunk back to the western fringes and is in danger of disappearance. Like a glacier, its small size disguises its huge role in our cultural ecosystem. Its existence feeds how English is spoken and sung in the rest of the country. Wipe it out, and Ireland is little more than a culturally lobotomised province of England, no more culturally different from London than Yorkshire or Devon.
A stalwart of sport, Micheal O Muircheartaigh has also been promoting Gaelscoileanna since Mary Hanafin was in primary school. "The Gaeltacht is the remnant of an Irish-speaking Ireland. The decline began in the east, so every effort should be made to preserve what is still there. It is far more important to preserve the language than any of the national monuments. There is no comparison between even the greatest of national monuments and a living language," he told me recently. He is dead right.
He also echoes the findings of professional research on immersion. "English doesn't suffer, it might even benefit ... They can't help but have English because it's in their surrounds and it's the language of most of their parents. The immersion helps in setting them off in initial stages. I can't see how anyone would be against it."
Grand statesman that he is, TK Whitaker is reluctant to get involved in contemporary debates on policy. But he does favour publishing the results of research more widely.
"All that sort of information should be more widely available so that parents are not adopting their present habits about bringing up their own children in English unnecessarily," he believes.
Another statesman of younger vintage, former Finance Minister and Labour leader and the party's current Education spokesman, Ruairi Quinn, agrees. "There is international evidence that immersion is the way to go to facilitate the early learning of another language while the home language may be different. The merits and demerits of this issue are hotly contested and the national response in this case would be to seek detailed research."
The smoothness and policy competence of the response tells you why this man became Finance Minister.
Alarmingly, and in total contrast, Hanafin's department has conducted no research at all.
One reason might be a lack of competence. Bodies with such competence -- the NCCA (National Council for Curriculum Assessment) and COGG (Council for Education in Gaelscoilleanna and the Gaeltacht) have said no change should be made before research is conducted.
Another reason could be a hostility towards the language that would make Oliver Cromwell blush. When he said, "To hell or to Connaught," Cromwell at least accepted the idea of an Irish-speaking west of Ireland. Not so some of our officials. As Irish language Commissioner Sean O Cuirreain exposed last week, someone in the Department of Justice disgracefully obstructed an investigation into why a judge unable to speak Irish was appointed in a Gaeltacht area. Hanafin admits that it was her senior officials and members of the inspectorate who advised her on this matter. She also failed to produce any research to back up this policy change. Neither was there any mention of it in Fianna Fail's manifesto or in the Programme for Government. In short, a minority of unelected, unaccountable officials have hijacked a democracy.
They have also given their minister a bum steer. When she told me that the 1999 curriculum gave her no choice but to abandon immersion, saying, "I cannot allow a situation where schools can pick and choose any aspect of the curriculum," Hanafin revealed the poor quality of her department's advice. Page 70 of the 1999 curriculum clearly states that teaching English in early years is recommended but not mandatory. The fact that the Department has issued a circular -- and plans to issue a Regulation to back it up -- proves that it is the Department itself, and not the curriculum, forcing the change.
As she goes down this road, Mary Hanafin should contemplate the fate of a woman with whom she has much in common: Niamh Breathnach was an Irish speaker, a TD for Dun Laoghaire and also an Education Minister. She also from time to time ignored sound advice, and her absence from today's political scene speaks volumes about the wisdom of this approach. She should also note that none of her colleagues has spoken in favour of the policy.
With or without her, the struggle to revive the language will go on. Just as the Israelis nurtured Hebrew back to life, we should actively nurture Irish-speaking areas to the point where they are economically viable and growing of their own accord. Like Israel, there are some who would push Irish-speaking Ireland into the sea. And just as Israel does, we must oppose these enemies of our culture with resolve, determination and ruthlessness.

Publican's challenge to Irish legal ban

By Staff reporter www.irishnews.com
22/04/08 A west Belfast man has won High Court permission to challenge an 18th century law stopping him from applying in Irish for a drinks licence.

Caoimhin Mac Giolla Cathain wants the permit for a music concert he is organising at the Culturlann centre on the city's Falls Road.

He is prohibited from making any application not in English under the Administration of Justice (Language) Act Ireland from 1737.

However, at the High Court yesterday, Mr Mac Giolla Cathain, an Irish speaker and member of the Shaw's Road Gaeltacht community, was granted leave to seek a judicial review of the NI Court Service's refusal to deal with his application.

Mr Justice Weatherup ruled it could be argued that Mr Mac Giolla Cathain's right to access the courts had been interfered with.