"Put on yer headphones..."

A heading in the Irish Times strikes me as richly ironic: "Taoiseach criticised for lack of ‘understanding’ for non-Irish speakers!" A cursury glance at the reports of the Coimisinéir Teanga over the last ten years would explain this ironic reaction.

 Yesterday was Lá na Gaeilge - the Day of Irish - in the Dáil. One day in which Irish was to be the medium in which the business was to be conducted in the National Language.

Of course not all of our public representatives are comfortable in speaking or understanding that language and for that purpose a translation service is apparently available. Deputy Mick Wallace put a question in English to the Taoiseach and the Taoiseach answered in Irish only to be interrupted by the questionnaire asking that he respond in English. The Taoiseach, amidst some uproar, suggested that the Deputy use the headphones to get a clear idea of his reply. This proved a little difficult as headphones did not appear to be readily available at every deputy's seat however he did manage to find one close by and things moved forward. Perhaps the Taoiseach could have been a trifle less confrontational or patronising in his responses especially as Deputy Wallace was apologetic about his linguistic shortcomings. Indeed there are those who accused him of using it for political purposes. The MEP Ming Flanagan tweeted sensibly "it should never used as a weapon. It should be used to express!"

"Cuir ort na cluaisíní!"

This incident caused a flurry of excitement and not a little abuse on social media. If I may quote one of the less insulting ones, "Enda Kenny's actions in the Dail today regarding the Irish Language towards Mick Wallace were downright ignorant."  Perhaps they were but the uproar on social media at the afrontry of the Taoiseach responding to a question in English in the National Language will be viewed with a somewhat jaundiced eye by any Irish Speaker be they from the Gaeltacht or otherwise who has to deal with the state. Another tweet may illustrate this point: "Our leaders should be speaking it everyday and not once a year. There's room for both languages."

Only three weeks ago I received a reply to a written query in the National Language to the Chairman of an Oireachtas in English.  The irony is that at the base of this letter was the legend, "Cuirfear fáilte roimh chomhfhreagras i nGaeilge!" (Correspondance in Irish will be welcome!). This is by no means a unique experience. The Office of the Comisinéir Teanga is inundated with hundreds of examples of such "ignorance" each year.

Cathal MacCoille of Morning Ireland remarked on a radio programme yesterday evening that he had attended the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis over the weekend in Derry and that a simultaneous translation system was available, and in use, for all a delegates throughout the event. He lamented that the Dáil, with a much smaller number of Deputies did not seem to be able to manage that. That is a matter for house keeping. I wonder is that an area for the Ceann Chomhairle's staff to sort out?  He further remarked that no one in the European Parliament or at EU meetings seems to have any problem in donning these headphones as translations are available in all (except one) of the working languages.

I live in an Irish speaking area. I shop, have my car serviced, attend Church Services, attend local parish meetings, buy my medicines etc all through Irish. I live in a district where parents with children with chronic medical conditions are advised and encouraged to change the language of the family so that the State does not have to provide the requisite on-going treatment in the child's own language.

When I have to deal with the state I am constantly put on the long finger, "The person with Irish is off sick today!" or "on her lunch break!" I MUST use English, no translation service provided!

I see little understanding of mine or of those encountered daily by anyone endevouring to use our National Language in dealing with the manderins of state! Perhaps this incident will help in the understanding of this daily problem for the Irish speaking citizens in their own country.

As seen by ASNC in tuairisc.ie today!

"Speak in another language...."

Is Sinn Féin representative's stance diminished by the discomfort caused by the attitude of her party?

The slapping down of an elected representative of the Irish People in a forum of the European Union received little or no coverage in the English Language media in Ireland. It is only now receiving some coverage in the world press.

Liadh Ní Riada FPE

What others said!
• Aljazeera
• An Sionnach Fionn

Sinn Féin
• 17/2/2015
•4/3/2014

Sign the Petition!

Because of the actions of the Irish government the Irish Language, as an official working language of the Union, has been derogued since 2007. There may have been some justification in the earlier part of this period as there was arguably a shortage of suitably qualified interpreters though there are many qualified translaters who have been working the bureaucracy in Brussels and elsewhere since 1973. The situation is much improved now and interpreters are now readily available should the Government decide to lift the derogation. 

Adressing an International Conference on Language Rights recently Dr Professor P. B. Ó Laighin, a renowned expert on European Language Rights, following his meeting with representatives of the Taoiseach Enda Kenny stated: "To my knowledge a decision in principle has been made by the Government .... that the derogation will be renewed from the 1st January 2017." (my translation)

One of the elected members of the European Parliament vowed that she would speak only Irish at the institutions and meetings of the assembly for the first half of March 2015 (1st to 17th March 2015 which is called, perhaps euphamistially, Seachtain na Gaeilge - the Week of Irish!). Her first opportunity was on 2nd March 2015. During a joint meeting of Budgets and Economic and Monetary Affairs committees on March 2 Representative Liadh Ní Riada (Sinn Féin spoke in Irish - her native language and mother tongue - and this is what happened (this video last about 1 minute)

Though the chair of the meeting (who I believe was French and normally uses his own language officially translated for those whose French is not up to scratch) refers to a "decision of the Bureau" it is in fact a decision requested by the Irish Government and agreed by the other members of the union. Thus it is a matter for the Irish Government and the Taoiseach to decide in this matter. Sign the petion requesting this to happen!

A professional poll last month found that 70 percent of people in Ireland favoured the provision of all public services in Irish. But the Government is still inactive. Well might Seán Ó Cuirreáin, (the Coimisinéir Teanga who resigned in frustration at the lack of leadership from the present government) say: "... tick-tock, Tempus fugit and if, as is said in Irish, 'God’s mills grind slowly' it appears the wheels of the state turn more slowly still, particularly in the case of the language..." (23 January 2014 Translation the Coimisinéir's Office).

Perhaps another irony is the stance of the Party so well represented by this courageous woman. When I go to their website I am confronted with the Queen's English and even if I click the very difficult to find "Gaeilge" button, (See if you can find it!), there is little if no change except the headings which (when they work) lead to mish match of material which eventually leads on to more English pages. Press releases from Sinn Féin are general monolingualy Queen's English except the refer to Irish, the Gaeltacht or they are issued by the Senator from Galway West.

Maybe I am being a bit harsh and indeed in comparison with the other main parties north and south they are streets ahead. But if they wish to lead the Irish People they must respect its language and history and ethos. Look at their conduct in the houses of the Oireachtas. Yes they use the occasional phrases in Irish but evan the members whose mother tongue is Irish never (to my knowledge) use Irish in the house to discuss items other that Gaeltacht or Irish Language issues. Has Pearse Doherty (a Gaeltacht man) ever spoken at length on finance in Irish in the house? Newcomer, Galways West's Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh does use Irish frequently but generally speaking he retreats into English? (The same criticism may be levelled at say Fianna Fáil's Éamon Ó Cuív who has not, to my knowledge, ever made a speech in Irish to the house on his Agriculture Brief!).

In the North too they are regarded with some misgivings especially their actions or lack of actions on Foras na Gaeilge when they permitted that organisation to kill the only daily newspaer in Irish and the withdrawal of funds from some vibrant organisations.

In the recent Ard Fheis of the party held in the City of that great Irishman, Colmcille, a member, Dáithí Mac a'Bhaird, spoke of movingly and passionatly of his discomfort as an Irish speaker in the Sinn Féin party.

Never the less we must acknowledge the enthusiasm of those who do espouse and understand the cause. Listen to Trevor Ó Clochartaigh at the same Ard Fheis:

"'Live horse and get grass' is most likely the government's philosophy in relation to Irish. The danger is that the Irish language horse is on its deathbed because of the injustices met upon it by Enda Kenny and his friends.

“Fine Gael and the Labour have continually attacked the Irish language since they came into power. Seán Ó Cuirreáin, the Language Commissioner resigned from his position becuase of the lack of support for his work. The Official Languages Act is being amended in such a way that it is being completely weakened inasmuch as the government can get away with it.

“Heather Humphreys chose 'Google Translate' when she was launching the programme for the 1916 commemorations, reasoning that Irish has little role to play in such an event.

“Éamon Ó Cuiv and Fianna Fáil decimated the Údarás na Gaeltachta budget and Dinny McGinley followed suit. He ended direct elections to the bord to make sure that nobody could publicly condemn either the work of the organisation or government policies.

“Joe McHugh is a 'nice guy' who is making a good personal effort, but in relation to government policies regarding the Irish language – 'you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear'!

“The 20 Year Strategy for the Irish Language is not functioning and there is a crisis in Gaeltacht regions in terms of young people being able to speak the language.

“But it was heartening to see 10,000 people on the streets and they 'Red with Anger'. The Minister Carál Ní Chuilinn is highlighting the substantial investment and political drive Sinn Féin has regarding for our native language. There are other elected representatives who are promoting Irish at every level.

“It goes without saying that Irish speaking communities and the Gaeltacht would be better off with Sinn Féin in government.

“We have to tackle the hostility the civil service has in relation to the language. We have to introduce recruitment quotas so that services in Irish can become available.

“We have to strengthen and broaden the Languages Act. The Language Commissioner should also have a stronger role in overseeing the 20 Year Strategy for the Irish Language.

“Full status for Irish has to be granted in the European Union.

“There has to be a government in Dublin that will impress upon Westminister and on unionists that the promise to implement the Languages Act in the six counties must be fulfilled.

“Sinn Féin will stand with the Irish language community, if the Irish language community stands with Sinn Féin.” (Translation Sinn Féin)

Yes everything strikes a note with us but perhaps it would be more believable if the Party showed us what they could do in the areas it has control over, their speakers in the Dáil, Seanad, Northern Assembly, County Councils, their website, their public pronouncements as Gaeilge etc.

But back to Liadh Ní Riada talking about the wonderfu but so far fruitless "Lá Mór na Gaeilge" in Dublin a year ago. "What was wonderful was you could hear Irish spoken everywhere on the streets of our capital. And then you start thinking, 'My God, once upon a time this country spoke Irish all over. It is all because we were colonised and the last thing that you do in stamping out somebody's identity is crush their language."

If I may mangle an old saying, "One MEP never made a summer!"