"Our hearts are broken!"

Gaeilge

A report regarding the low number of Irish-speaking Gardaí in the Gaeltacht has been submitted to the Houses of the Oireachtas by An Coimisinéir Teanga.

It was decided to lay a Report before both Houses of the Oireachtas as the recommendations of an investigation carried out in 2011 had not been implemented by An Garda Síochána and An Coimisinéir Teanga was unable to undertake any additional measures to impress upon An Garda Síochána to do so.

‘It is now very clear that the investigation’s recommendations have not been implemented by An Garda Síochána. The number of Irish-speaking Gardaí who are on duty in the Gaeltacht is inadequate and as a result the Garda Síochána Act is being breached. It would be difficult to argue that a reasonable period of time has not elapsed since recommendations were made in a 2011 investigation. It now falls to the Houses of the Oireachtas to take whatever additional measures they deem appropriate.’ said Rónán Ó Domhnaill, Coimisinéir Teanga. In an interview this morning he stated that "their hearts were broken" trying to get the Garda Síochána to fulfill their legal obligation. 

The Commissioner of An Garda Síochána is under a statutory obligation to ensure that members of the force who are fluent in Irish are stationed in a district that includes a Gaeltacht area, as far as practicable. The law clearly states:  ‘The Garda Commissioner shall, to the extent practicable, ensure that members of the Garda Síochána stationed in a district that includes a Gaeltacht area are sufficiently competent in the Irish language to enable them to use it with facility in carrying out their duties.’  (Subsection 33(2) of the Garda Síochána Act 2005).

The investigation, which was completed in December 2011, found that An Garda Síochána did not comply with its statutory language obligations to station members of the force who are sufficiently proficient in Irish in the Donegal Gaeltacht.

A specific recommendation was made in the 2011 investigation that An Garda Síochána should examine staffing throughout the Gaeltacht to ensure compliance with the statutory language obligations pertaining to An Garda Síochána in the Garda Síochána Act 2005 and An Garda Síochána’s Language Scheme 2009-2012.

As a result of a monitoring process, it was ascertained that only 35 Irish-speaking Gardaí, out of a total of 95, are assigned to Gaeltacht stations. This is according to An Garda Síochána’s own self-assessment system.

@gardainfo @ceartateanga @OireachtasNews @DeptJusticeIRL

From Kilkenny to Dún na nGall.

"...if any English, or Irish living amongst the English, use the Irish language amongst themselves, cont-rary to the ordinance, and therof be attainted, his lands and tenements, if he have any, shall be seized into the hands of his immediate lord, until he shall come to one of the places of our lord the king, and find sufficient surety to adopt and use the English language, and then he shall have restitution of his said lands or tenements, his body shall be taken by any of the officers of our lord the king, and commited to the next gaol, there to remain until he, or some other in his name, shall find sufficient surety in the manner aforesaid..."  Statutes of Kilkenny A.D. 1367

What a week for the Irish speaker!

1. Vaccination registration impossible for Irish speakers;
2. Circulars distributed to Naoinra's in English from the department of Children with the instruction to distribute it to parents;
3. Circulars issued in English only from the Department of the Gaeltacht;
4. Plans for rural rejuvination available in English only weeks after they were announced.
5. A Chinese Academic's application for citizenship rejected because it was submitted in Irish.
6. A circular issued by a company in Gaeltacht to its employees, sponsored by Udarás na Gaeltachta, stating that English is the only acceptable language in the workplace (since withdrawn);

No Gaeilge - No Gaeltacht!

And they are the only ones I can think of ... indeed, as was mentioned by one tweeter, the only department which seems ready to speak in Irish is that of the Revenue Commissioners. I wonder why?

And all this in the week when discussions are being held in the Dáil to strengthen and protect the language. And all but a few of the over 300 amendments being rejected by the Government.

One wonders how this is possible when the Taoiseach (@MichealMartinTD) belongs to a party (@fiannafailparty) with claims as one of its primary aims is "to restore the Irish Language as the spoken language of the people." One would imagine that the first step would be to ensure that the state would be able to serve those who use the language in their daily life especially the people of the Gaeltacht areas. How many Fianna Fáil TD and Senators use the National Language on twitter. I could count on one hand the number of tweets made by our Taoiseach.

Arguably the European Parliament (@Europarl_GA) makes more tweets in Irish per week than the Oireachtas (@OireachtasNews). Indeed Uachtarán na hÉireann offers an example that all arms of Government could follow - although it is a bit of a mystery as to how his twitter handle is @PresidentIRL.

One is tempted to ask (as indeed are many on twitter) against what - is the Irish State the greatest enemy of the Language that it is charged not only to protect but to encourage.

A reminder the Bunracht na hÉireann states (Article 8 #1)

Since the Irish language is the national language it is the first official language.