Irish? No good news? Don't you believe it!

Somebody asked the other day on twitter if there are any good news stories about Irish these days. We are so used to the bad, the attempted emasculation of the Coimisinéir Teanga's powers, total lack of understanding of the importance of the language to the national psyche among the State apparatchiks which eventually led to the resignation of the Commisinéir, closure of schools in the Gaeltacht, ending of subsidies in language institutions, withdrawal of subsidies against professional advice in print publications etc etc.

Dispair
It is difficult indeed to find anywhere where there is good news on this front and the lack of reporting (or maybe knowledge) of the good stories is having a detrimental effect on all those who love and speak the language especially in the areas where it has been spoken for over 2000 years, long before English was a baby!

It was little wonder that the resigning Comisinéir, Seán Ó Cuirreáin, stated as he left office (in translation), "Never before have I seen in over 30 years’ experience - as a journalist or language commissioner - morale and confidence so low. Despite the enormous goodwill of the vast majority of the people of this country, the language continues to drift further to the margins of society including within much of the public sector - " He also refered to the "sinister forces" in our State structures, for whom, to quote the words of President Michael D Higgins, "Irish was not half dead enough.” To be fair to Seán he did point out that there had been some advances in the position of the language in his period in that office.

The gallant few
We sometimes forget perhaps that there is a small faithful group, many times isolated and folorn within their work place who yet understand the importance of "Gaelachas" which many of us are allowing - if not willing it -  to slide into oblivion. These, who may truly be called "servants of the nation," feel isolated and abandoned too by those who fight for language rights as they are lumped in with those referred to by President Higgins.

Why am I writing this. Well earlier this month I read an article by Concubhar Ó Liatháin, regarded by some, if not many, as a bit of a curmudgeon, in the "Seachtain" (Itself something of a good story, an Irish newspaper, unsupported by Government Grant). His article certainly gave me a certain sense of optimism and I hope it will do the same for you.

This article headed Language and "sean-nós" (the term uses for traditional style unaccompanied solo singing - or dancing - mostly in Irish) are safe with the new generation. The author relates his visit to Oireachtas na Gaeilge (another good news story ignored by and large in the English Language media). This annual festival is a great chance to mix and renew friendships not only with well known faces in the Irish language sector but also those less known and unsung. During the week in Killarney he met a friend who works in the Gaeltacht Department and he spoke about the frustrations he and his colleagues feel from the indifference in the media for the good news of the development of the language in the Gaeltacht.

This was news to me, used as we all are to the doom and gloom, impending disaster, and finally end of the Gaeltacht in the next 20 years. I have been hearing this since the nineteen sixties when I first started to care about such things. My interest was aroused.

A hopeful sign
If I may give my own poor translation of Conchubhar's article he continued: "He (the civil servant) that since the opening of the Family Centre in Indreabhán in Conamara a substantial percentage increase of young children presenting for primary scholing in the area with Irish.

"'A survey was conducted back in 1973 on Children speaking at the schoolyard gates. According to this survey 30% of the children in the districts covered, could be counted as native Irish speakers. Today, in the same districts, this figure is 65% outside of the school yard.' said my authoritative friend...

"According to the authorities of the schools in the district where the Cois Fharraige Family Centre is situated, an improvement beyond imagination has occured in the use of the language in the area. One of these centres is being opened in Baile an Fheirtéaraigh next January and again investment of €3 milliom from Roinn na Gaeltachta and Údarás na Gaeltachta.

"Although certain advances are happening, there are many battles which my companion and his camrades are fighting with the Departments and with other Government Departments yet to be won..."

Problems continue!
He goes on to talk about lack of understaing shown by Minister Noel Dempsey (Local Government) in the past and even the new Minister Joe McHugh stating that the erection of a new industry in the Gaeltacht should not merit a language impact study (see on  You Tube). The Department of Education has had a similar attitude to providing an curriculum recognising proficiency in Irish in the Gaeltacht areas.

As I'm writing this news has been reported of the Secretary of the Department of Education has launched of yet another of the interminable reports on the language. This talks of the abilty of primary school in English exceeding that of that in Irish. Hardly surprising since the curriculum in their school is the same for Dalkey in Co Dublin as it is in Ros Muc in the heart of the Conamara Gaeltacht! This has been reported negatively in some circles but of course it is not necessarily a bad thing. One wonders what the result of such a study mutatis mutandis in another part of Ireland would unearth. One wonders also if it will join the multiplicity of Irish Language reports and studies gathering dust deep in the dusty cavernous cellars of some Government Department!

But back to the article in "Seachtain!"

Pól Ó Ceannabháin

"I was present myself where there was a grand crowd of boys and girls under 12 years competing with each other in the Sean-Nós Singing Competition at the Killarney Oireachtas. THe adjudicator, Pól Ó Ceannabháin, was absolutly correct when he remarked that they were a source of pride and hope. The future of sean-nós and Irish are safe in the next generation.

"As they say in certain part of the north, No surrender!, no surrender to dispair!"

And always remember the old chestnut. It always makes stope me up short! 
"Did you know that the last surviving speaker of Irish hasn't been born yet" 

The slow strangulation of the language movement!

Here in the twenty six counties we sometimes forget about the six counties even in areas where we should be fostering our affinity with the people on both sides of the divide resulting from the policies and ideologies of another age.

This is evident in the attitudes towards language and has led to an independant and highly successful language movement there especially in urban areas of Belfast. The input from the "language establishment" in the South may perhaps be described as minimal. I don't know whether it was sought or not but in any case the result is a strong vibrant Gaeltacht in Belfast which has sprung not from the policies of the Government or even of public representatives, but from the people.

This people's movement had grown so strongly that eventiually Government funding was made available and this was used in further development of this courageous and vibrant community. The most visible signs of this may be seen in two wonderful facilities in Belfast and Derry cities.

Now this work appears to be in great jeopardy by the policy of Foras na Gaeilge, the body responsible for the promotion of the Irish language throughout the whole island of Ireland.

"In the Good Friday Agreement (1999), it was stated that a North/South Implementation body be set up to promote both the Irish language and the Ulster Scots language. Under the auspices of this body, Foras na Gaeilge will carry out all the designated responsibilities regarding the Irish language. This entails facilitating and encouraging the speaking and writing of Irish in the public and private arena in the Republic of Ireland, and in Northern Ireland where there is appropriate demand, in the context of part three of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages."

While this seemed like a good (indeed brilliant) idea at the time it has not been effective because its work depended on the willingness and encouragement of two Governments to ensure success. This has led to a snail-like progress as the policies of both jurisdictions on the matter have rarely been coincidental.

The policy at present is for this body to oversee a re-organisation of the distribution of its ever diminishing funds to organisations with an all Ireland distribution. In effect this means that the organisations and people responsible for what is arguably the most successful Irish language schemes since the foundations of the Irish State are being excluded from any discussions on the refunding from Foras na Gaeilge.

This article, in Slugger O'Toole, "Cuts and splits: How the Irish language community’s most effective advocates are being silenced!" tells how this policy is harming the language and the community not only in the six counties but also throughout the Island. It is no wonder that Seán Ó Cuirreáin commented when he announced his resignation, "For those generally involved with the protection or promotion of the Irish language, either professionally or voluntarily, we are in a time of great uncertainty. Never before have I seen in over 30 years’ experience - as a journalist or language commissioner - morale and confidence so low." See our article, Waiting for eggs for omelettes since 1892!  for full text!

The Irish Sate continues to pursue policies which are condemned as harmful by language experts. To my knowledge they have not produced one Language Planning expert of any calibre to justify what they are doing. Indeed the Government has ignored and failed to answer the two points the Coimisinéir Teanga has made repeatedly, that they use "...Irish in dealing with Gaeltacht communities and ensure an adequate Irish language capacity in public administration." Indeed on this latter point he states: "...there is absolutely no way that the most recent proposal in relation to the Civil Service will work."

The Stormont administration has, I think, been ambivalent at best and more often hostile to anything to do with the language. However when you look at it is there really that much difference between the two governments? One is more explicit than the other! Would it be more correct to say that  one is less hypocritical than the other?

One has great sympathy for those in Foras na Gaeilge in trying to administer their brief and indeed one has to ask how long more before people in that organisation will take the lonely road taken by Seán Ó Cuireáin, the road of conscience!

"...the Irish language is not worth knowing..." the real and present danger!

Several things stirred me during the Christmas period. Two interviews with poets, an article in the Irish Times and a blog article from the prolific keyboard of journalist Concubhar Ó Liatháin.

Irish fiction?

The first was a television interview conducted by Morning Ireland's Cathal Mac Coille with the vetern poet and writer, still happily with us, Máire Mhac an tSaoi. This was a delightful hour or so where both writer and interviewer truly understood each other and where, as far as one could see there a genuine but not restrictive respect, affection and understanding between the interviewer and interviewee. Difficult questions were asked and answered and there were some beautiful moments where this over eighty year old poet recited some of her poems as part of the programme.

The second interview was one of the late Nobel Lauriate, Séamus Heaney by Olivia O'Leary. Again this was a wonderful piece of radio this time in front of an audience and again the interviewer showed her knowledge and respect for the poet. One of her questions however pulled me up short. She was asking if he ever felt drawn into the English "niceness" (I think was the word she used!). This is the way in which she felt that the English tried to "own one." She then said that when she was a broadcaster with the BBC long ago, she was very conscious of the possiblity of loosing her "Irishness" which she identified as her accent. That she always insisted in pronouncing the "R" in "Arthur Scargill" the Irish way.

It struck me as sad that this intelligent woman would not have had this problem in asserting her Irishness had she been in full possession of that most identifiable and unique attribute of Irishness, the language. She would perhaps never have feared this sublimation into Englishness and been like, say the brodcaster from Llanelli's Hew Edwards, a stalwart of BBC News. I cannot imagine this would have occured to Máire Mhac an tSaoi in all her international appointments or to her interviewer.

Irish fiction?

An article in this weekend's Irish Times was on a visit to the Dublin Writers' Museum by Rosita Boland. She mentons that it is twenty years since she last visited the museum. She was puzzeled by one of the display cases. "There is the same seemingly random pairing of featured writers in certain display cases. Samuel Beckett and Máirtín Ó Cadhain share one such space. At first, I think it’s because they were both born in 1906, as the text panels note, but the audio guide informs me it’s because they both “chose not to write in English”.

That immediately struck a chord as Concuubhar Ó Liatháin in his iGaeilge blog, recently commented on a new laureate (Irish), which includes a payment of €150,000, to be be awarded to "what the Arts Council describes as “an outstanding fiction writer”, writing in the English language." I must say his somwhat acerbic comment expresses a view with which I wholeheartedly agree! Should the Irish taxpayers' money be spent in promoting English language fiction or is it possible that Irish fiction and fiction in Irish are not the same?

In a recent (and unique) hour-long interview on Raidío na Life (Irish) our Taoiseach stated that he asked the English Queen Elizabeth II, during her historic visit to Ireland, what she thought the greatest gift England had given Ireland. She replied, "The English language." The Taoiseach agreed with her and indeed, incredulously, admitted this in the broadcast. One wonders if he ever read the address delivered by Douglas Hyde, later first President of Ireland, in 1893. (Arguably without this address he would not be Taoiseach at all!) "I have often heard people thank God that if the English gave us nothing else they gave us at least their language. In this way they put a bold face upon the matter, and pretend that the Irish language is not worth knowing, and has no literature. But the Irish language is worth knowing, or why would the greatest philologists of Germany, France, and Italy be emulously studying it, and it does possess a literature, or why would a German savant have made the calculation that the books written in Irish between the eleventh and seventeenth centuries, and still extant, would fill a thousand octavo volumes."

Maybe we could all do with reading his short address to realise that "in Anglicising ourselves wholesale we have thrown away with a light heart the best claim which we have upon the world's recognition of us as a separate nationality."

Indeed the words of the Coimisinéir Teanga to the Oireachtas Committee last December (2013) could well be regarded as an echo: "As we begin to regain our economic sovereignty, it would be a travesty if we were to lose our linguistic sovereignty – a cornerstone of our cultural identity, heritage and soul as a nation. I believe this to be a clear and present danger." (Translation)

Coimisinéir not a child of Celtic Tiger!

Sometimes we read articles that ire us in the newspapers. An short article (see picture below) by columnist Brenda Power in the Irish edition of the Sunday Times, (8th December 2013) got to this blogger and he wrote a response which, mirabile dictu, made it past the editor with very few changes.

This is the letter as originally written:  

Sir,

Brenda Power, Sunday Times Ireland, 8/12/2013

I was surprised at Brenda Power's short item, "That's a failure in any language!" in last Sunday's edition. It displayed quite surprising ignorance.

It said that the the post of Coimisinéir Teanga was a child of the Celtic Tiger, implying that it was throwing money away. Maybe it was but last year the budget for his office was a mere €600,000, hardly an extravagance. It would not pay many of our public representatives!

His appointment by the President of Ireland was to a position which was to see that state agencies themselves ensured the implementation of their obligations. These, let us not forget, are obligations under the constitution and under laws as enacted by the houses of the Oireachtas.

He has resigned not so mucht because the fulfilment of these legal obligations has failed, but rather because they have not been implemented.

That there are people in Ireland who wish to speak Irish, both in the Gaeltacht and in urban areas, is not in doubt. That they have rights in this regard too is not in doubt. This right is asserted both in the Constitution and also in the unanimously enacted Official Languages Act in 2003. The fact that over 6000 people found it necessary to use the services of his office - 28% from the Gaeltacht - surely is significant. Indeed in at least one case a citizen of this state was handcuffed and hauled off to a police station for asserting this constitutional right!  Presumable these people already have a love of the language which has hardly been fostered by order indeed the non-implimentation of these laws or orders is surely inimicable to this love.

Ms Power want's to "dump" this "pointless quango." To whom does she recommend these 6000 go when this office is abolished as she wishes.

Yours etc

See further correspondance in response to this letter at: What about the 83%? (30/12/2013)

See also our piece: Waiting for eggs for omelettes since 1892! written after the announcement by Seán Ó Cuirreáin of his resignation as Coimisinéir. This includes a full translation in English of his address to a Joint Oireachtas Committee at which he made the announcment!

This article in The Examiner, gives an end-of-year view following on the resignation of Seán Ó Cuirreáin - The surprising people speaking up for Irish! (31/1/2013). The editorial in the Irish Times, "The newspaper of record" is also a sharp defence of the words of the Coimisinéir, "Fudge Farce and Falsehood!" The Government has made no response to the resignation other than a short statement (issued initially in English only) thanking him for his service and the promise that a new Coimisinéir will be appointed.

Other letters have been written in English to the English language newspapers, not all of which have made it past the editorial eye! Two of these have been penned by the ever-thoughtful Aonghus Ó hAlmhain in his regular blog "Smaointe fánacha Aonghus!" (Tr: Aonghus's stray thoughts!). This contribution "Gaeilgeoirí, Gaeltacht agus Gearáin"*  includes two considered pieces in English which he had written and which were not published.

*The term "Gaeilgeoirí" is one which has different meanings or connotations depending on where one lives or where it is used. In the Gaeltacht it is a term used for the Irish students who flock in their thousands in the Summer. It is sometimes used derogatively especially in the hostile pens of certain loud journalists and then elsewhere used as a hand catch all phrase to include all Irish speakers. It can be translated to mean "Speakers of Irish" which is what it means in Aonghus's article. "Gaeltacht" meaning "Irish speaking Area) hardly needs to be translated. "Gearáin" means "Complaints."

Guth na Gaeltacht "The Gaeltacht voice is silenced!")

Has Foras na Gaeilge forgotten the words of the first president of Ireland?

Late on Friday last (1/2/2013) after Gaelscéal, the premier Irish language weekly, published the item discussed in our article, The Dictatorship of Fear, last week about the intimidation apparantly been experienced in the Irish Language sector, Foras na Gaeilge has abruptly withdrawn the subvention to the paper with apparantly no immediate plans to fill the lacuna left by this. 

R.I.P.

Inniú,

Amárach,

Anois,

Foinse,

Lá,

Lá Nua,

Gaelscéal

Moreover when Raidío na Gaeltachta made an effort to get a statement from the Organisation they were told that they would not have anybody available until the following Monday. The press statement although dated 28 January appeared on the Foras na Gaeilge site later - probably on the Monday. The release may be read here: End of Funding for Gaelscéal (pdf).

This non-professional, indeed, amateurish attitude bodes ill for any plans being made for the language from the State not to mention any residual confidence of the Irish speaking community and the Gaeltacht. 

The most glaring innaccuracies in this release is the figure given for average sales. I appears that the only looked at sales in the shops and did not take into consideration the not inconsiderable figures of sales to Schools, direct subscriptions or downloads of the electronic versions of the publication. These figures are closer to 4000 (3970 according to the publishers) rather more than the less that one and a half thousand copies quoted in the release. Moreover the board which made the decision were told that the publishing company, Torann na dTonn, were keen to terminate the agreement, which is strongly, if not indignantly, denied by the company.

Comparisons are odious we are told but I am going to make one. Our nearest neighbour, Wales, has a population of almost 450,000 fluent i their own language. The have one weekly newspaper which has a circulation of 4000. 

The alarming fact also is that this action leads (yet again) to the cessation of a publication, the dispersal of expertese - not to say perhaps personal hardship of those working in the enterprise - without providing the slightest inkling of what the next stage of their plan is. The final sentence  "...plans are being made to cater for this need in the near future.." hardly fill one with hopeful expectation.

Also the fact that this unilateral decision terminates an agreement mid-term is hardly encouraging for any organisation be they voluntary of commercial to conclude any agreement with Foras na Gaeilge. Are they to be trusted?

The decision has lead to some, well actually to quite a lot of discussion on various electronic media, notably twitter and Radío na Gaeltachta and later on TG4 programmes. One thing it lead to an exploration Foras na Gaeilge's own website - an exercise not for the faint-hearted! Among the jewels unearthed was a paper, a study, Irish Language Media Report (Irish), which although some rumblings as to its existence were heard nobody had apparently seen it. However it had been uploaded, unheralded, as indeed are many things, on the website we think in 2011.  It is hidden among "publications" alongside annual reports and other material. (In passing it is interesting that no annual report has been published by this inter-state body since 2009. A contrast between it and the meticulous and the bang up to date reports of the Comisinéir Teanga and Údarás na Gaeltachta is to say the least chastening. Both have published reports for years up to 2011.)

This report, paid for by the Foras by a Dr. Regina Uí Chollatáin (UCD) states unequivically that a printed newspaper in Irish is necessary until 2016. This sits rather oddly with the affirmation in the Foras release "..the printed format is not the most suitable to provide a news service to the Irish language readership." 

This table is of particular interest - excuse the translations, not always my strongest point!

Print & Internet trends

Year /Medium	2011	2016	2021	2026/7
Printed National Newspaper in Irish	Neccesary	Useful  & bi-lingual	Useful as support for online version	2027 - end of printed newspapers (Shane Hegarty Irish Times)
National Newspaper in Irish on-line	Useful as support of printed version	Neccesary	Neccesary	Neccesary
Printed Magazines	Neccesary	Neccesary	Useful as support for online version	Useful

The well known web publication Slugger O'Toole, the award winning news and opinion portal, which takes a critical look at various strands of political politics in Ireland and Britain, published a heartfelf Farewell to Gaelscéal, penned by Concubhar Ó Liatháin, nó stranger to the Machiavelian manouvers of Foras na Gaeilge as former Editor of the former Lá which is well worth a read.

A petition to the authorities who set up and appoint Foras na Gaeilge, viz the Governments of Ireland and Britain, has been set up. You may wish to support it: Reverse the decision of Foras na Gaeilge to close Gaelscéal. If you do sign you may like to ask your friends/followers to sign it to.

We have mentioned the sluggishness of Foras na Gaeilge in publishing annual reports. Perhaps a further insight into how Foras na Gaeilge operates, if that is not too strong a word to use, is contained in this release from Gaelport in late January 2013: Minutes of Foras na Gaeilge Board Meetings Published.

Is it not time, indeed, beyond time, that the Irish and British people, who have ownership of Foras na Gaeilge, sought an examination, a root and branch examination, of this organisation to see it it is in fact fit for purpose as "..the body responsible for the promotion of the Irish language throughout the whole island of Ireland!" Well was it said by Julian de Spáin, Secretary General of Conradh na Gaeilge, the oldest and perhaps most active of all the voluntary organisations, last Friday at a meeting in Galway, "I am angry that we have come to the point now where we are fighting not against the forces of English.... but againste the forces of Irish..." (My translation).

Perhaps Foras na Gaeilge has forgotten, if indeed it ever knew, the cry of the First President of Ireland, "When we speak of 'The Necessity for De-Anglicising the Irish Nation', we mean it, not as a protest against imitating what is best in the English people, for that would be absurd, but rather to show the folly of neglecting what is Irish, and hastening to adopt, pell-mell, and indiscriminately, everything that is English, simply because it is English." (Douglas Hyde, 25/11/1892).

Perhaps the Government of Ireland and our Minister for the Gaeltacht has forgotten it too.

Bullying from government!

A frightening event has taken place in the last few days. It has been reported in the Irish Daily Mail this morning!

As many are aware a Bill on the Gaeltacht is being rushed through the Oireachtas by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Junior Minister Dinny McGinley. Few if any Gaeltacht Voluntary body, community group or Irish Language organisation or indeed Language Planning Expert is in favour of this bill with Senator Seán Barrett describing it as the worst prepared and worst intentioned Bill to come before the Seanad in a long time. A good examination on the legislation appeared in the Irish Times recently.

Indeed this bill, is the first bill on Irish or the Gaeltacht has not been passed unanimously by the Oireachtas. Acht na Gealge in 2003 was painstakingly put together and debated in each house and passed with the full agreement of all parties.

Today we learn that a spokesperson for Guth na Gaeltachta, Dónal Ó Cnáimhsí, a gardener in Glenveigh National Park, and who recently spoke strongly advocating the postponement of the passing of this bill on radio, has received a threatening letter, in English, from his employer, the self-same Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. This letter stated that his comments could be interpreted as contrary to his contract with the Department.  


In a discussion on the matter spokesmen for various voluntary bodies referred to the fact that many people who disagreed strongly with this bill and afraid of its impact on their districts felt unable to speak out because they were in receipt of funding from the Department. It appears that their fears were very well founded indeed! (See also account on Highland Radio!) 



This later article by Conchubhar Ó Liatháin, in the Sunday Independent (22/7/2012) says that The Gaeltacht Bill deserves to be thoroughly debated in every detail.


One wonders how many teachers who protest at the policies of the Department of Education, or nurses who speak out about the HSE, receive letters like this? If they don't why should a gardener receive such a letter from his employer?

Are we living in a fascist state?

See also story in Donegal Daily: "Outrage over over claims that Dept tried to gag Donegal gardener!" (17/7/2012)

Killed by bureaucracy?

I suppose one of the most effective organisations in fostering love and use of the Language over the years has been Glór na nGael (Irish). It is a comparatively young organisation from it's foundation by the Catholoc Priests organisation Cumann na Sagart. It's first patrons were Úachtarán na hÉireann Éamon de Valeara and Cardinal D'Alton and the first competition was organised in 1961. It is now a company half owned by the Cumann and the other half by the umbrella group of all Irish language organisations, Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge (Bilingual).

It sends a team throughout the length and breath of the country looking for the town, parish or district looking at how they are progressing in the promotion of Irish in the life of the community and award not insubstantial prizes for those communities who, in their opinion, have advanced most in the preceeding year. The awards are graded to the size and type of community. This year the awards were presented recently in the hallowed and iconic chambers of Belfast City Hall, a city which recently, through the establishment of the only truly urban Gaeltacht, and historically has had such a positive influence on maintaining and growing the opportunities for developing a healthy Gaelic environment.

Like most communities they are funded, especially for their running costs, but the state. Recently however they have been forced to issue protective notice to seven of their staff because there is no guarantee that funding will continue after July of this year. They are not alone in fearing that this funding will not be forthcoming. The other language organisations whether community based or even State bodies like Údarás na Gaeltachta expect to be faced with cuts or outright cessation of the grants which enable them to perform in a professional way. For instance the Language Commissioner (An Coimisinéar Teanga)was unable to use his entire budget last year because of delays and restrictions placed on him by the bureaucracy. The money was there but he was not allowed to spend it and so the statutary service he provides must suffer.

It is not denied that these are stringent times and good houskeeping is essential no matter how laudable an organisations vision and aims are. However the fact the the bureaucracy does not see fit to advise its decision in good time means that effective realistic planning, so important in our modern world, cannot take place.

Voluntary language organisations, such as the non-state funded Guth na Gaeltachta (Irish), and private individuals, have raised their voices in support of these bodies. They state that there is great danger letting these initiatives fade if we are to achieve the objectives of the Government's 20 year plan.

Eventually the new minister, Pat Carey, made a statement saying that there was no need for worry as long as the process of reassessment was in progress. He is referring to the examination of the many language organisations and their relevency. Most people do agree that some "rationalisation" is required in the nineteen language bodies but the delays caused in the meantime create a sort of limbo situation.

Delays like this caused the death of Foinse, leaving a gap in the Irish language newspaper scene which lasted for several months while the body charged with funding these assessed possible alternatives. And as Concubhar Ó Liatháin, (a paper he edited in the past, Lá Nua, also was allowed to perish due to Departmental ineffectiveness) in Fóram Iriseoireachta na Gaeilge (Irish)blog stated, this means that the expertese and knowledge fostered over a period of years is lost and valuable time is wasted by a new team getting up-to-speed. Not good planning!

So in effect the Minister is saying that the jobs are safe until they are not!

Hardly the most reasuring of news to people trying to make a living in this day and age.