What's that in English?

You can sit on a mountain but you can't sit on a pin!

Not again!

Imagine if you can Silvio Berlusconi entering the European Parliament to which he has just been elected.

"Who are you?"

"Silvio Berlusconi, newly elected representative from the Republic of Italy."

"What would that be in English?"

This is something that happens regularly in Ireland to people who use the (more correct) form of their surname. It has happend to me as recently as last week.

I had to go into a local hospital in the Gaeltacht serving city of Galway for a medical procedure. For safety reasons the very efficient and friendly staff of these establishments must check your name date of birth etc. to ensure that your are the correct person for this procedure.

Checking my name one of those checking queried my surname, "And whats that in English, Eoin?" I just said that's my surname, "It's a old Wexford name!" I went on to talk about other surnames from Wexford in my family background including my great-grandmother who was a Hore - one of the Hores of the Moyne as my grandfather used to smilingly refer to her in the days when I had no idea that there could be any other word with the same sound, a different spelling and a completely different meaning!

On other occasions I have been told directly "That's Ryan isn't it?" Now as I appriach my dotage I no longer acquiesce and say no it isn't it's "Ó Riain." Prior to this i might have agreed for a quiet life!

I have also been told that I should not have not to use that form of my name. I decided to use it and only that form when I came to voting age. I feel that after over fifty years this decision should not be queried. Perhaps I am naive?

Recently the film director, Ciarán Ó Cofaigh drew our attention to the apparant inability of may of our public (and private) institutions to cope with the accent or long sign over vowels. "It's the esence of who I am!"  (RTÉ, 9/4/2019) This is I suppose part of the same problem. Try booking a seat on IarnRód Éireann or on an Aer Lingus plane if your name has an accent!

Respect: My name tag from a conference
in the Netherlands. 

It is a problem I have only come across here in Ireland. In my somewhat limited experience abroad - including Mother England believe it or believe it not - the fada on my surname is nearly always respected. In Ireland it is invariable either left out (acceptable) or replaced with a following (and meaningless) apostrophy. Nobody outside of Ireland asks me the fatal question, "What's that in English?"

I agree it is in one way a small irritant. But as the saying goes, "You can sit on a mountain but you can't sit on a pin!" The Comisinéir Teanga has said, "Our name and surname is an integral part of our identity and no person or organisation should take it upon itself to anglicise this." (Annual Report 2015, Page 7)

The ruling of a judge reported in yesterday's Irish Times (12/7/2019) has perhaps some relevance. The Judge refers to “a historically lukewarm State commitment to the giving of practical support and resources to support the language in the administration of justice”, or in any of its services I would add.

If the state is so lukewarm is it any surprise that those in the service of the public show a similar disregard?

The first monitoring report published by An Coimisinéir Teanga.

Leagan Gaeilge

"These results do not engender any confidence that government departments are displaying the necessary leadership in ensuring that sufficient numbers of staff with Irish are employed by them. The low level of employees with Irish means that there cannot be an expectation of a comprehensive range of services of equal standard being provided in both official languages." The Coimisinéir Teanga

This monitoring report, just published gives the results of the various audits completed by the Office of An Coimisinéir Teanga in 2018. The following are the main results of the audits: 

• Only 84 positions of the 20,000 employed by government departments are recognised as positions with an Irish language requirement. 67 of those positions are in the Department of Culture, Heritage & the Gaeltacht. 
• Only two local authorities of the ten examined were complying for the most part with the statutory language commitments relating to their websites. 
• Almost 60% of signs examined at heritage sites under the auspices of the Office of Public Works were in compliance with the regulations. 

Staff with Irish in government departments 

At the time of the audit 7 government departments had not identified any positions as ones with an Irish language requirement. Other than the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht with 10%, the number of positions identified as ones with an Irish language requirement was below 1%. 

In total only 551 staff out of the 21,060 (2.62%) employed by government departments were identified as staff having competence in the Irish language. Only two government departments in the country – the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and the Department of Education and Skills – have more than 5% of employees with competence in Irish. 

An Coimisinéir Teanga, Rónán Ó Domhnaill, stated that “These figures are a further indication of the lack of capacity of the State to deliver an acceptable level of service in the Irish language. These results do not engender any confidence that government departments are displaying the necessary leadership in ensuring that sufficient numbers of staff with Irish are employed by them. The low level of employees with Irish means that there cannot be an expectation of a comprehensive range of services of equal standard being provided in both official languages. This must be addressed by amending the Act and the recruitment policies of the State.” 

Reports/Comments • Irish language shortcomings must be addressed (RTÉ 11/7/2019) • A crisis in the number of competent Irish language speakers in the State system shown clearly in the Coimisinéir Teanga’s report (CnaG 11/7/2019)

Local authorities’ websites 

As part of the 2018 audit programme a number of local authorities’ websites were examined to assess if they were in compliance with the relevant commitments provided in their language schemes. Of the ten local authorities’ websites examined four were non-complying for the most part with the commitments provided. These were Clare County Council, Wicklow County Council, Louth County Council and Kerry County Council. Two local authorities – Galway County Council and Dublin City Council – were in compliance with their obligations for the most part. 

Signs at heritage sites 

The use of the official languages on signs at various heritage sites managed by the Office of Public Works was also examined. Ten separate heritage sites in Dublin were audited during 2018. Five of the ten sites examined achieved an acceptable level of compliance. The highest level of compliance was achieved by the Pearse Museum in Rathfarnham at 89% and the lowest level of compliance by the National Botanic Gardens where only one out of ten signs examined were in line with regulations. 

This is the first year that the Office of An Coimisinéir Teanga has published a separate report on the Office’s monitoring work, which is limited to monitoring the provisions of the Official Languages Act only. An Coimisinéir Teanga decided to change the Office’s monitoring process, which focused mainly on language schemes, in light of the shortcomings that were identified in the Commentary published on the language scheme system. As part of the new monitoring model An Coimisinéir Teanga identifies annual monitoring priorities encompassing various elements of the Act.