"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!"

Minster plays fast and loose with the strategy!

It is such a pity that the Irish Times's Miriam Lord is ignorant of the National Language otherwise we might have had an entertaining not to say incisive account of the happenings in Áras an Uachtarán and two oireachtas committees during the week ending 7th March 2014.

On Wednesday two of these happenings occurred.

Thank you!
A delightful reception, hosted by the President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, in honour of the resigning Language Commissioner, Seán Ó Cuirreáin, who had announced a short three months prior to that that he felt he had no option but to resign rather than collude in the pretense of the policy of the Government and Civil Administration.

The President gave a remarkable address (which contrasted markably from any understandable remarks from any Govenment minister) which supported the stand of Seán Ó Cuirreáin. He remarked that he had known Mr Ó Cuirreáin for many years and that he was among the most courteous of men he had ever known. "I would like to pay tribute this evening to Seán’s honesty, his intellectual integrity and to his steadfastness."

Echoing comments made by Seán Ó Cuirreáin to two Oireachtas Committees he said:  “Irish should never be seen as a thorn in the side of the administrative system."

He went on even more strongly “As President of Ireland, I wish to state that, not only am I dismayed, but that I am greatly concerned at the apparent low level of ability to fulfil the rights of citizens who wish to interact through Irish with the State and its agencies."

His address is so strong that at least one commentator wondered if he had crossed a constitutional border in expressing a view so at variance with the perceived policy of the Government. His address (in Irish) may be found here on the website of the President of Ireland.

Machiavellian obfuscation

In stark contrast to events in Áras an Uachtaráin the meeting in Committee Room 4 of the Oireachtas was more like a painful session at the dentist, of pulling obstinate teeth. In the first of two confrontations the Minister of State for the Gaeltacht displayed what might be described either complimentarily as a Machiavellian deviousness, not seen since the hay-day of the Grandfather of the Deputy from West Galway, or less admirably an exercise in lamentable, obdurate obfuscation. The Minster seemed unable to reply to a simple question with a simple answer. Indeed on more than one occasion we were entertained to a trip down memory lane and his own participation in various campaigns in his youth.

He was keen to point out that he was busy making a major contribution to the increased use of Irish in the civil service not seen for forty years. (He did not, nor did any one else, refer to the fact that the ills which caused up to 10,000 to march in Dublin, and 1000 in Conamara last month were in fact the direct result of a decision by a Fine Gael Minister of Finance in 1974!)

When people tried to pin him down on any particular problem raised by the Commissioner he maintained that he himself had no responsibility except for his own Department.

Mr Michael Kitt said the number of complaints to the Irish language commissioner was increasing, the complaints coming from across the State with 26% were from within the Gaeltacht.

The Minister told him it was “a good thing that complaints are coming in from the public because it shows the demand for Irish speakers”. However he did not say how these complaints could be satisfied.

The amalgamation of the Commisioner's office with that of the Ombudsman would mean that his Department would no longer be responsible for these reports but they would pass to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

When rights are not rights!
When asked whether language rights were human rights he seemed to maintain that these rights depended on the availability of funds. I suppose we could quote, mutas mutandis the author of Animal Farm, "Some rights are more equal than others!"

In the Dáil the following morning the claim was made, and not denied, that the rate of approval of Language Schemes, (Legally binding schemes submitted by Departments and public bodies advising what they were doing to implement Irish Language policy), would mean that twenty eight years would have come and gone before every body had submitted schemes.

On Thursday a second Oireachtas Committee had summoned the Minister. In fact only the Chairman, Sen Labhrás Ó Murchú, of this committee bothered to turn up though other Deptuties and Senators did. The members who missed the show - er sorry session - were An Teachta Micheál Mac Carthaigh, An Teachta Caoimhín Mac Unfraidh, An Teachta Peadar Tóibín, An Seanadóir Fiach Mac Conghaíl and An Seanadóir Cáit Uí Chátháin.

This was a meeting to examine progress on the famous 20 year Strategy about which the resigning Commissioner said, "Is the Strategy being implemented?  I don’t know.  And with all due respect to you as a subcommittee, I believe that you don’t know either as there is no independent audit or review being conducted on the implementation of the Strategy." The committee was a lesson in how to demolish a witness as Éamon Ó Cuív and Trevor Ó Clochartaigh with little assistance from Senator Briain Ó Domhnaill, examined how the 20 Year Strategy was not been implemented at all either in and how the government in effect has altered the all-party agreed document.

Government alters strategy without telling anyone!
The Minister of State again re-iterated that he had enough to be doing looking after his own Department than to be looking after what other Departments were doing. This outlook was in direct contrast to the impression that the questionnaires understanding of the Minister's responsibility with regard to the Strategy. Indeed even in his own Department, a Strategic Unit as mentioned in the Strategy, is not in place - a deep cause for concern for those in attendance. This was in direct contravention of the strategy "Planning and implementation of the Strategy will be directed from a Strategy Unit within that Department (of the Gaeltacht), with dedicated staff and the function of assigning duties and implementation roles to implementation agencies, as necessary."

Particular attention was drawn to the fact that there was no senior minister with responsibility as required by the document, "..a senior Minister and a Government Department (the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs) with central responsibility for Irish language affairs.)" 

By the time the meeting ended there was nothing said that belied the feeling that the Government’s treatment of the Irish language was a deep deep cause for concern for all those who questioned the Minister.

A report on this meeting in the Irish Times: Leaked document shows reversal of Irish language obligations. (6/3/2014)

We have until 31st January 2012

The rain was coming down in sheets last Friday in Galway city. The Pillo Hotel was the venue for a meeting called to discuss the policy - or apparant lack of policy - of the Irish government with regard to the Irish speaking people and the ever-shrinking districts in which Irish is the vernacular language.

Despite the inclement weather more that eighty people gathered to discuss the matter.

So who were they?
The were represented of some of the language movements as one would expect. However it also included representatives of community organisations and co-operatives from Irish speaking areas as well as un-aligned individuals. People came to this meeting from Gaeltacht areas in Ulster, Munster. Leinster and of course Connacht. 

What says the Dictionary! merge [murj] merged, merg·ing. verb (used with object) 1. to cause to combine or coalesce; unite. 2. to combine, blend, or unite gradually so as to blur the individuality or individual identity of: They voted to merge the two branch offices into a single unit.

Why did the gather?
Well the immediate worry of those present was the unexpected and catastrophic decision of the Government on 17th October 2011 as part of Goverenment's Public Service Reform Decision to:
"Merge functions of Language Commissioner with Ombudsman Office. To be progressed in the context of the ongoing review of the Official Languages Act 2003."

The predominent feeling of the meeting was shock, surprise, anger and frustration that a government decision like this was taken without consulation, as far as can be ascertained, with anybody who was directly concerned. The Ombusdman herself or the Coimisinéir Teanga himself were not consulted it was reported. Surprise was also expressed in the fact that this is a decision taken before the Review of the Language Act which was announced by the Junior Minister at the Department of the Gaeltacht a mere fourteen days previously. Nobody present could understand the logic of such a decision. (See also our blog: Developing language policy by hunch! 19/11/2011)

The meeting was chaired by Éamonn Mac Niallas from Guth na Gaeltachta, a recently founded organisation set up to inform  areas which still mantain Irish as the vernacular of the effect of Government thinking and policy on their lives and livelyhoods. Commenting on the decision he said "It is amazing that such a decision has been taken at the very beginning of the implementation of the Government's 20 Year Strategy for the Irish Language 2010 - 2030. This decision makes absolutely no sense at all, and the Irish language community will now be very sceptical that this Government in any way serious about strategically planning for the Irish language community. What message does this give the Civil Service, a service Irish speakers have been trying to access their rights from for years now? What this is saying to them is that this independent office is not important and as such, that it is not important to implement the Languages Act."

The Coimisinéir and the Review! "He said that the public were being afforded an historic opportunity between now and 31 January 2012 to put proposals to the Department to ensure the provision of an Act fit for purpose which serves the wishes of the Irish language community in an appropriate manner and which gives meaning to the constitutional provision that Irish is the first official language as it is the national language." 4/12/2011

The Secretary General of Conradh na Gaeilge, Julian de Spáinn, first made a presentation on this and other decisions which affect the operation of the Act and on the previously announced review. When the review was first announced it was welcomed by and large by the Irish language and Gaeltacht community organisations organisations as an wonderful opportunity to improve the language act. It was a chance they thought to revise those parts which were impractical and strengthen those parts which were effective. Later when they saw the survey questionnaire there was some disappointment in how negative it appeared to be. However be that as it may he pointed out that the Department did say that they would welcome additional representations independently of the questionnaire and indeed the Comisinéir himself had submitted a 15 page Commentary on the practical application and operation of provisions of that Act last July (see here!).

The change of the name of Dingle was at the behest of some of the people of the town who felt that visitor to the area were incapable of making the adaption - something that doesn't appear to have occured to those who changed names of the Indian city's of Mumbai (Bombay) or Chennai (Madras) and indeed inexplicably there appeares to have been no movement to change road-signs in Italy to Florence/Firenze

Watering down!
The Language Act has in fact already been altered since its enactment. The first change was in the relatively minor though emotional matter of the name-change of the town of Dingle-Daingin Uí Chúis from the more usual "An Daingin."

The second was a more serious change in that it permitted the enactment of an act of the Oireachtas in one or other of the "national languages," instead of as the act required in both languages. This was a de facto a diminution of the status of the language, something that the Act was supposed to protect. Indeed all political parties in the Dáil and Seanad claim to wish to protect and enhance the status of Irish.

The decision to merge the office of the Coimisinéir Teanga with that of the Ombudsman diminishes that status drastically. When asked to defend this decision the Junior Minister charged with responsibility for the Gaeltacht had several interesting things to say.

Logic? The decision with regard to the Comisinéir Teanga is not the only one in this documnent to defy logic. Fintan O'Toole, the Irish Times columnist with whom this blogger does not often agree, has pointed out some of these strange decisions in several articles. • Never mind slashed budgets: mindless mergers are the arts' big problem (3/12/2011) See also letter response in IT 6/12/2011: Financial cutbacks in culture sector! • Want to hear about a daft idea that deserves to be shelved? (19/11/2011)

Firstly he said that other ombudsman- like offices were to be merged with the Ombudsman Office. On the serface this seems true enough? However on closer examination there seem to be differences in emphasis: "Merge Commission on Public Service Appointments with Ombudsman Office "  seems straightforward enough but "Merge back-office functions of the Office of the Ombudsman for Children into the Ombudsman/Information Commissioner’s Office," seems to mantain the independance of the actual Childrens' Ombudsman; "Office of the Data Protection Commissioner: Amalgamate with the Office of the Ombudsman," seems a strange amalgamation in this day and age. However there seems to be no plan to merge the Garda Ombudsman Commission or the Financial Services Ombudsman although the  Pensions Ombudsman is to merge with the Financial Services Ombudsman. Where is the logic of these different decisions?

We must bear in mind that the reform's outlined in Howlin's document accepted and decided at Cabinet were largly economic. "We will relentlessly focus on delivering better value for money through the implementation of Public Service Reform," it says. However in response to a question in the Dáil Junior Minister Dinny McGinley said "Perhaps when this is finished it will cost more!..." (B’fhéidir, nuair a bheadh an deireadh thart go gcosnóidh sé níos mó....).

This final comment was greeted with some incredulity by the meeting.

What to do!
One of the possible things discussed was a boycott of the Review of the Act, instigated by the Department. However it was felt that this would perhaps feed the hostile intentions aimed at watering down the powers of the Act further. The most effective means of influencing the onward progress of the language status was to engage in the process. Éamon Ó Cuív, who as Minister painstakingly steered this act through the Oireachtas, suggested that personal contact with the local representative, TD, Senator and Councillor was far more effective that sending an email. There are so many emails now being sent to these representatives as to render them practically ineffective. Trevor Ó Clochartaigh was also present at the meeting and spoke strongly in favour of maintaining the independence of the office of the Coimisinéir Teanga. We did not hear or see any representatives of the Government party though I think there were some messages apologising for not been present.

The survey itself was felt to be written is a way which suggested preferred answers perhaps aimed at weakening the act.  It seems to be aimed at people who regularly use, or have regular contact with state services. However careful consideration of each of the questions and how one might use the services in the future should help in completing it usefully. A paper was distributed at the meeting which helped in understanding how to answer the questions.

The Conradh has made some  suggestions for additional points:

• That public companies have a statutory duty to provide their services in the Gaeltacht in an equal measure as provided in English in other areas. This national demand for service in Irish should also be fostered pro-actively throughout the country as an equal choice with that service in English.
• That the complexity of the services provided through language schemes to date be eased and a new system with a standard based on statutory regulations be developed
• Statutary languge regulations be clarified with bodies employed by public bodies acting on their behalf providing services to the public.

The most important thing was however to complete the survey and also to submit any additional suggestions thought to be of importance. (You might think that some of those from the Comisinéir Teanga worth emphasising here or those suggested above by the Conradh.) The form may be completed in Irish too. The form may be completed electronically in Irish or in English.

The meeting ended almost on-time, unusual in this correspondents experience, and when we emerged from the hotel the rain was still dancing on the early evening streets of Galway reflecting  the first lights of Christmas glimmering in the pools of water on the pavements.

Developing language policy by hunch!

It is hard to see a real love of the Irish heritage in the actions taken by the current government and epecially in the majority party.

Opened by a President closed by Fine Gael?

"The "Free State" never had any intention to revive the native language. They always needed to cloy to English norms, without which, they would be dumb and blind. Those who were given power by the English, were totally "cleansed" of any trace of our traditions and culture. They are irrelevent and what ever they do is irrelevent. We must press on without them. Beidh lá breá gréine in Éirinn lá. Labhair Gaeilge! Droch rath ar na 'Léinte Gorma'" .

This is a comment typical of many which have appeared in the last few days following the shoch announcememnt of the planned watering-down, if not the total abolition of the Language Commissioner's office.

A paper by Dúbhglás de hÍde, 1st President of Ireland "The necessity for the de-anglicising the Irish nation!" instigated the birth of the nation. Are we now smothering that same nation through thoughtless hunches?

Fine Gael has form!
Earlier this year the Language Commissioner, Seán Ó Cuireáin in a report described the ending nearly 40 years ago of the requirement for civil servants to have competence in Irish as well as English, when addressing a conference in Dublin last February.

This decision was taken by a Fine Gael Minister of Finance and in fact a lot of the so-called costs of translations etc would harldy be neccessary if this dicision had not been taken as there would be sufficient personnal "in house" to handle the business in both languages. He cites as an example that the "Department of Education and Skills, which recently revealed that only 1.5% of its administrative staff had sufficient competence in Irish to be able to provide service in that language." This in a Department that to a large extent was entrusted with the "revival of the Irish language" at the foundation of the state.

 Enda Kenny himself commented on a report from the Education Department in 2006: "....it's pretty ironic that the Department of Education, which has been dealing with the teaching of Irish for more than 80 years, was not in a position to translate this report itself and had to contract an outside company to get the document translated." (23 June 2006). Is it possible that Richie Ryan's decision some forty years previously had an influence?

Fine Gael's Richie Ryan statement as he announced this change proclaimed that this decision will lead "replacing the compulsion which did so much damage to the Irish language over the past half century with enthusiasm for the language, we will have people more readily disposed to use Irish.” Another hunch?

Mr Ryan, where are these people?

Mantaining the "murder machine!"
P. H. Pearse, President of the Provisional Government in 1916 referred to the education system here as the "Murder Machine." It is not so long ago since the leader of Fine Gael, now Taoiseach Enda Kenny, promoted the abolition of Irish as a neccessary subject in our Leaving Certificate examination. He was approached last year on his policy to eject Irish from the core curriculum at Leaving Certificate level. When asked to explain how the survival prospects of an imperilled language could be improved by lowering its social status, he replied that his policy for Irish in the schools is based on a personal 'hunch.' (Letter to newspapers 8 Feb 2011)

Fine Gael is not alone!

This notion of change be "hunch" or without adequate, or indeed any, clear notion as to why an action should be taken is demonstrated in a recent article from the pen of Irish Times columnist Fintan O'Toole, a journalist with whose opinions this writer does not always agree. He asks: "Want to hear about a daft idea that deserves to be shelved?"

His vision for Irish is perhaps laudable. "My vision for Irish in our education system is simple: I believe we should equip our people, and particularly our young people, with a real, a useful, and a communicative knowledge of the Irish Language." His 'personal hunch' however leads him to state, "All students will be offered a choice as to whether to study Irish after the Junior Certificate examination."

Language planning by intuition!
And now in what appears to be a continuation of their Irish Language policy by "hunch," they have announced the intention, as part of the "Public Service Reform" announced by the Government, to "merge" the office of the Language Commissioner with that of the Ombudsan. In a statement Seán Ó Cuireáin confirmed that he had not been consulted on the decision and was informed by telephone on Wednesday night. This is breathtaking not only displaying a lack of courtesy but also a lack of evidence of any real considerationof the impact of such a decision - another hunch?

The wording in the policy states "Merge functions of Language Commissioner with Ombudsman Office." This appears as a decision. Then this rider is added, "To be progressed in the context of the ongoing review of the Official Languages Act 2003" In other words it is removing the examination of the independance of the Language Commissioner's office from the review of the Act. It ties the hands of the review. Why?

The ostensible reason for this decision was to save money. "The need to reduce public spending and drive greater efficiency is clearly evident and has been committed to. We will relentlessly focus on delivering better value for money through the implementation of Public Service Reform."

Let's examine the costs. According to the Junior Minister with responsibility for the Gaeltacht, Dinny McGinley, the cost for this office is €600,000 per annum. The bulk of this cost is salaries and rental of the premises in the Gaeltacht. The staff of the office are civil servents and the plan states that no personell will loose their jobs. The Commissioner himself has been appointed by the President for a term which expires in 2016. The rent for the premises is being paid to another State agency, Údarás na Gaeltachta. It is not unreasonable to assume that any additional costs are the cost of the work accomplished through the office in serving the public. Mr Kenny says there will be no reduction in the standard and efficiency of the office under the new regime. Minister Howlin echoes this in relation to the total programme, "These measures are designed to make service delivery more effective and efficient!"

Could it be that this is another hunch?

Mr Kenny, where is the saving?

Are they alone?
The other parties have little to be proud of either.
Sinn Féin, whom one might think would be full of practical love of their language presided over the closing down of the only Irish Language daily newspaper.
Fianna Fáil did little to change the hostile legislation of Richie Ryan when they returned to power. Yes while they were in power the did eventually pass a language act 71 years after they came to power. Indeed there are those that feel that even this would not have happened but for the dedication and sheer nerve of Éamon Ó Cuív.
The Labour Party have hardly covered themselves in glory in the over 80 years since the foundation of the state. Michael D Higgins' steadfastness in the face of relentless criticism resulted in the foundation of the now much praised TG4.

Is it any wonder that the people of the Gaeltacht and the language are totally disillusioned?

The Irish people require leadership in restoring its self respect as a nation. Seán Ó Cuireáin in some small way was helping in that. Not all people thought that his office was as useful as it could be or indeed that some of the aspects of the Language Act itself were that useful but it was all we had and it was subject to review. Will that review be realistic, honest, scientific or will all the changes if any be based on a hunch?

The prospect is terrifying!

• Incidentally in compiling this piece we found that all the Irish Language sites had complete English Language versions. None of the  Government Sites we looked at had! Need we say more!