20% complaints related to a lack of services through Irish during the pandemic.

 Leagan Gaeilge 

The statutory duty to provide a service in Irish does not depend on the particular situation involved, the priorities or resources of the public body.

An Coimisinéir Teanga Rónán Ó Domhnaill has said that many people who contacted his office last year expressed serious disappointment that state services through Irish were often marginalised during the pandemic. One third of Covid-19 complaints concerned interactive services, such as booking a PCR Test or a vaccine appointment online, not being available in the first official language of the State.

The Commisinéir said: “A total of 123 complaints were received this year related to the health crisis. Many of those complaints could not be investigated due to a lack of provision in legislation requiring satisfactory service through Irish. The matter highlights again the importance on giving effect to the provisions in new Official Languages Act which came into law late last year.

“My Office will be undertaking a substantial information and public awareness campaign later this year to emphasise the importance of the new legislative provisions to both the public and public bodies. If the various provisions of the new Act are properly implemented, the public shall benefit from the availablity of a wider range of services through Irish than heretofore.”

Some of the main provisions in the new Act include:

• An objective that by 2030 20% of new recruits to the public service and Civil Service be proficient in Irish
• A provision requiring public bodies to ensure that at least 20% of their annual advertising is in Irish
• A provision to ensure communications with a public body on social media are answered in the same language.

Other Reports

• Complaints up 20% in 2021, more than a fifth due to access to Covid-19 services (RTÉ)
• Jump in complaints to Irish language commissioner (Irish Times)

The monitoring function of An Coimisinéir Teanga continued last year and is highlighted in the annual report. The monitoring included following-up on recommendations in previous investigations relating to public bodies such as the Department of Education, the Educational Research Centre and RTÉ. 

The Coimisinéir Teanga looks forward in due course to utilising a new function in the revised Official Languages Act which will enable him to monitor any enactments relating to the use of the Irish language, not just the Official Languages Act as is at present. 

Five formal investigations were concluded by the Office of An Coimisinéir Teanga in 2021. One investigation found that Meath County Council breached the Meath County Development Plan by not ensuring the linguistic heritage of the Gaeltacht there was protected when determining planning applications in Ráth Chairn.

Two other investigations related to Dún-Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and their failure to appoint an Irish-language officer and their failure to ensure that a newsletter distributed throughout the area was available in Irish also.

A total of 727 complaints were made to the Office last year – a 20% increase on 2020. 27% of complaints came from Dublin, with a further 27% from Gaeltacht regions – a 4% increase on 2020.

@CeartaTeanga

Trydar, Tweets or Giolcacha!

There is an interesting article in todays Guardian (Am I the only person who still thinks of it as the Manchester Guardian - like the Examiner I still think of it's original local affiliation?).

It is talking about an English speaking journalist who spent many years abroad serving the English press returning home and finding that his country has "reverted" to a truly respectful attitude to its own ancient heritage. There are some similarities perhaps to Ireland too.

I mostly follow the Irish language media, Raidío na Gaeltachta, TG4, Tuairisc, Meoin Eile and Nós and all too few print publications - no daily or weekly is published.

I do not follow the English Language media published in Ireland (The Irish media?) - though it is almost impossible to ignore it's smothering presence. Anyway back to the hillsides of Wales. The language there is respected. The Welsh Government tries to truly represent all the people. They even have two twitter accounts, @LlywodraethCym and @WelshGovernment.

Respect or?

What has Ireland got? 

@merrionstreet is an English Language presence with the odd tweet in Irish - mostly about Language issues though more recently some other topics have sneaked through. Even the President is @PresidentIRL and of late seems to have abandoned routine tweets in the National Language. The Taoiseach never tweets in Irish.

Even the Department with responsibility for the Gaeltacht - @DeptCulturelRL - is in English. Only one unlikely Government Department has the Irish name for its twitter handle - can you guess which?

Indeed the European Parliament with it's Irish twitter account seems to tweet more in this official language than the account of most if not all Government Departments or the Houses of the Oireachtas.

Only two State Bodies regularly publish bilingually on twitter (or at all), both based in the Gaeltacht - Udarás na Gaeltachta and the Coimisinéir Teanga. (Raidío na Gaeltachta and TG4 do mostly publish in Irish of course.) The only State Organisation that has both an Irish & English Language twitter account is The Central Statistic Office @POStaidrimh  and @CSOIreland. Who'll be next?

Even when a Government Department provides an Irish version of a release or policy or a consultation it rarely if ever publicises it. 

The article in the Guardian makes good and encouraging reading for those anxious to ensure the continuation (no not preservation!) of the original language of the Britons. It does however slip into some of the misconceptions people who speak Irish will recognise. It condescendingly describes Hew Edwards, long time anchor of BBC TV News, as an "evangelical Welsh speaker." We are used to this condescension in any obituaries or descriptions have we in Ireland seen, "Irish language enthusiast," "fluent Irish Speaker" "Inverterate Irish speaker" etc etc. I have heard Hew Edwards speak in Welsh on television once. It is his language. He is hardly an evangelist. Was Angela Merkel a language evangelist because she only spoke publicly in German?

A lot of people speak in Irish, my neighbours do, because it is the language of the place. It is their language. Few if any can be described as "evangelists" or even "enthusiasts." They speak Irish because it is their means of communication. Yet the state makes it virtually impossible for them to communicate indeed actually discourages it use. 

Recently I sense that Irish does seem to be more alive on line - like Welsh because of Raidío na Gaeltachta and TG4 but also I believe because of the influence of the Irish Speaking schools. There are other outlets too in radio, print and social media (and not all with State support).

It looks like there will be a long wait however for our Government to emulate the Welsh example. Maybe it's time for another commission or study group.

More than seven minutes and one hundred years!

During this time of centennial commemorations it is perhaps interesting to see just how advanced our country has advanced as a nation.

Shortly before his death and after he signed the treaty and taken Dublin Castle Collins oar as he signed himself, Mícheál Ó Coilean said, "We have now won the first victory... the biggest task will be the restoration of the language ... Irish will scarcely be our language in this generation, not even perhaps in the next. But until we have it again on our tongues and in our minds we are not free ..." (The Path to Freedom - published some months after his death in 1922).

There are those who feel that the low-key transfer of power in Dublin Castle marked the end of the struggle. Of course it was, as the "Big Fella" said "the first victory." There was more to be achieved.

Of course there are some good signs to be seen. The Oireachtas Committee on Irish & The Irish Speaking Communities, first established in 2016 under the intrepid Galway TD, Catherine Connolly (@catherinegalway) and continued in the current Oireachtas under Aenghus Ó Snodaigh (@aosnodaigh) has been doing real thoughtful work. Although initially contributions featured the usual encomiums to the language and hope the contributors loved it and tributes to its beauty it has now settled down to really important work and in no small measure has contributed to the debates in both ouses of the Oireachtas. 

The final measures in the recognition of our language as an official language of Europe should also help increase respect and its use in officialdom. Seán Kelly's works in trying to encourage its use in the Parliament is also meeting some success.

The treaty of accession to the European Community (now European Union) in 1973 was signed by the then Taoiseach in Irish.

Not least of these was the reconciliation with those who still felt a loyalty to the Westminster Parliament and and whose leader, Dublin man Edward Carson, expressed the year before as the New Northern Ireland was set up in 1921, "What a fool I was. I was only a puppet, and so was Ulster, and so was Ireland, in the political game that was to get the Conservative party into power.” (plus ça change!)  Many believe that the treaty of December 1921 set up Northern Ireland. This is not so. It was established by a Westminster Act of Parliament in May 1920 and the first session of the Northern Ireland Parliament was opened by King George V in June 1921 thus it was a entity at the time that the treaty negotiations commenced during Autumn 1921.

The other victory Collins looked forward to was the reversal of the policy of those who "destroyed our language, all but destroyed it, and in giving us their own they cursed us so that we have become its slaves."

Today, one hundred years on how has this task progressed. If we look at communications from the Irish Parliament in Leinster House - Houses og the Oireachtas - which tweets message for the most part in English as @OireachtasNews. (The European Parliament in contrast has an Irish label and tweets almost daily in Irish as @Europarl_GA with  the "Nuacht is déanaí de chuid na Parlaiminte.").

Uachtarán na hÉireann, Michael D Higgins, inexplicably tweets under the title @PresidentIRL has usually tweeted each message in Irish and in English (though this practise seems to have fallen into abeyance in the last few months).

The current Taoiseach (@MichealMartinTD) rarely tweets in Irish (the last time was 9th December), indeed he even expressed his sorrow at the death of Máire Mhac an tSaoi, the great poet in our language, not in the language of her poetry but in the language of the Bard of Avon.

The Government Departments rarely tweet anything in Irish - even the so-called Department of Culture (@DeptCulturelRL).

In a country that officially espouses bilingualism as a state policy no Government Department has a truly bi-lingual website. The only State organisations that have truly bilingual websites are Udarás na Gaeltachta and that of the Comisinéir Teanga.  Foras na Gaeilge,  which is a cross-border body, also mantains a bilingual website.

Not one elected political has a website that can be remotely be called bi-lingual. Thus no political party can truly be said to represent the Irish speaking community or the Gaeltacht Areas. (The same may be said for the websites of any of the Church groups including those which contain the largest Gaeltacht areas within their dioceses.

There is little sign of the slavery referred by Michael Collins being cast aside even as we commemorate him and his patriotism. The picture (from Journal.ie) at the top shows members of the army with covered mouths - unknowingly symbols of this slavery?

For my own part I will feel the the so-called language policy success is when I can renew my driving license or public service card without difficulty or question in what our constitution calls the National Language.

"You are not on the system at all..."

A Kafkaesque tale from 21st century Ireland!

Ciarán Ó Feinneadha is a respectable accountant, steady, reliable and usually unflappable. Like all people who interact with the Irish state in the National Language he experiences a fair amount of difficulty if not downright obstruction.

The Irish Language home page of
the Dept of Social Protection

Things like computer problems with diacritics. Why this is a problem is difficult to understand since most languages do have diacretics to a far larger extent that Irish. We have the síne fada (or l'accent aigu of French) which often alters the meaning of a word or it's absence makes a word meaningless. Take the name of the country Éire. Without the síne fada this the word "eire" means burden or encumberance. The male name Seán (from Norman French "Jean") becomes "old" when spelt "sean". One would imagine that country would take account of its official language when specifying equipment. 

Finding personnel with the ability to actually communicate in the language is another difficulty. Another problem faced is the inability of people to accept the given name or surname. All people who use the Irish (and correct form) of their surname have experienced questioning, "What's that in English?" I usually reply "Track" or "Trace" which is really on trend nowadays. (See Tearma.ie!)

These are everyday problems for the Irish speaker trying to excercise his constitutional rights to using the National Language which is the Official Language of the state. ("Ós í an Ghaeilge an teanga náisiúnta is í an phríomhtheanga oifigiúil í." - Since Irish is the National Language it is the principal official language! Alt 8.1 Bunreacht na hÉireann). 

Naturally many people get tired of the incessant trouble they experience in dealing with the state and as often as not revert to English in order to save time and bother. No doubt the also contributes to the retreat of the Irish speaking areas and the so-called lack of demand for services in Irish that the civil servants report. If you want to read about some of these cases you could do worse than looks up any of the reports from the Coimisinéir Teanga since the institution of that office. 

But back to Ciarán.

An Scéal seo ar Gaeltacht21: "An Gheall briste..."

He tells us on his facebook page that he has refrained from speaking publicly on the matter of the frequent failings of the state (Dept of Health & HSE) to consider, let alone serve, Irish speakers in the current pandemic. He has shown remarkable constraint since the Coimisnéir Teanga says that no less than 20% of all complaints received in the office during 2020 were related to the pandemic. "One in five complaints I received this year related to the health crisis," his recently published report states (Page 6).

The straw that broke the camels back for Ciarán was another State Department entirely - the Department of Social Protection. He starts by listing three irritating occasions where the state failed to serve him as a user of the First Official language of the state during July 2020 alone. then he goes on:

Ciarán Ó Feinneadha

"I needed to get a Public Services Card and in order to obtain that the Department of Social Protection had to confirm my birth certificate electronically. 

"My parents baptized me Ciarán Ó Feinneadha. In my discussions with the local Office I was told “You are not on the system” and “you are not on the system at all”. So on the registration system for birth certificates by the Irish government there is no ‘Ciarán Ó Feinneadha’. They have translated my surname into an English surname they have created for me to file my real name in the system. I was told on three occasions that they have done this for everyone who has an Irish surname. 

"The correct Irish version is still on the certificate itself but they have translated all our Irish surnames into English (if it is English) and have filed us in that English version only. So when they tried to confirm my birth certificate I was asked what the English version of my name was and of course I refused to invent one because it doesn't exist - I'm kind of ashamed to claim WARRIOR of course. So the local office couldn't find me in the system without the corrupted "English" version of the name under which I was filed, which I or my parents have never used. 

INCREDIBLE!

"Both my parents have passed away in recent years and I feel that this is a personal insult to them as well as to me and to all Gaels. As well as being abusive and rude - it appears that their (the Department's) anti-Irishness has taken away all human understanding."

Comments on this on his page range from incandescent indignation to "well what do you expect?"

My own comment as a taxpayer to this state since 1966 and still suffering this kind of disrespect is a very weary indignation and very little surprise.

• A personal apology has been made to Ciarán but a statement to Tuairisc.ie leaves many questions unanswered. Conradh na Gaeilge is seeking a meeting and a trawl through the records to find out how many other cases like this may occur. (see Article 5/8/2021)

Language on condition...

Leagan Gaeilge 

"The statutory duty to provide a service in Irish does not depend on the particular situation involved, the priorities or resources of the public body."

The latest official report (Annual Report 2020)  from the Coimisnéir Teanga shows the impact of the coronovirus. Two things stood out. One was the 14% reduction in the number of complaints received in the office, probably a reflection of the lockdowns of different levels throughout the period covered. The second was the number of complaints relating to the pandemic displaying the disrespect or thoughtlessness by central and local arms of government. It certainly shows the urgency required in enacting a strong language act.

One in every five complaints made to Language Commissioner last year were Covid-related. 20% of all complaints raised by An Coimisinéir Teanga with public bodies during 2020 pertained to Covid-19. The majority of these cases concerned various means of communication with the public in English only, including information booklets, websites and advertising. Many of the complaints could not be formally investigated due to a lack of provision for Irish language services in the Official Languages Act, according to An Coimisinéir Teanga, Rónán Ó Domhnaill.

“The figures released in the annual report highlight that the more urgent and more important the service or information that the State is providing, the less likely it is that information will be provided in Irish. Many complainants who contacted my Office felt Irish speakers were being marginalised by the State at a time when bringing the public together in common purpose was required. The huge challenges facing the State in a time of Covid should not be underestimated but there should be no conflict between the grave national actions underway and obligations regarding language rights.” he said.

Rónán Ó Domhnaill added: “The complaints we received last year demonstrate yet again that the Official Languages Act needs to be strengthened to ensure a greater level of service through Irish from the State. It is hoped that a revised Official Languages Bill will begin to do just that when enacted.”

Four formal investigations were concluded by the Office of An Coimisinéir Teanga in 2020, two of which were Covid-related.

An investigation found that the Department of Education breached the Education Act when it decided to provide an online portal to enable students register for calculated grades in the Leaving Cert in English only.

Another investigation found that Galway City Council breached the Official Languages Act when erecting a large number of signs in English only which were in relation to Covid.

A total of 604 complaints were made to the Office last year – a 14% reduction on 2019. 33% of complaints came from Dublin, with a further 23% from Gaeltacht regions.

See also: 

20% of complaints to Irish Language Commissioner came from Galway (Galway Bay FM 1/6/2021)

Bodies with an obligation to publish in both languages cited the health emergency as a reason for not doing so. (I.Times 1/6/2021)

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.

A first in fifty years...

"...until we have it again on our tongues and in our minds we are not free.." (Michael Collins).

Something happened to me last week that has never happened before. A representative of the State initiated a conversation with me in Irish.

I was travelling to our local chemist in Ceathrú Rua and there was a Garda Checkpoint on the road. We were stopped and before we could say anything the cheerful Garda greeted us "Agus cé chaoi bhfuil sibh ar maidin?" I explained my errand and we went on our way. As I drove I felt strangely uplifted, even joyful.

Why?

Well I have been dealing with the state for over fifty years and always the first approach is a sort of confrontation. If I start in Irish there are various blank stares if it is in person and they go looking for "the person with Irish." Or on the phone "The person with Irish is not here..." or "...on her tea break!" In fact up to now if I have been stopped by a Garda on the road in the course of their duty they have always initiated the proceedings in English even in the Gaeltacht. Sometimes refusal to respond in English has resulted in frogmarching to the station. This attitude has lead unsurprisingly to the interaction between the state and those whose daily language is Irish, such as those who live in Gaeltacht Areas, to be in English with the inevitable and frequent claim by the civil service "There is no demand for it!"

I have even been told on more than one occasion by an employee of the State, the constitution of which states that Irish is the first official language, that I would get a better and more efficient service if I dealt with them in English. 

There have been some conversations recently discussing this on twitter and the on-line publication NÓS (Irish).  Indeed when somebody is served in Irish it is the occasion for some happy sharings on social media. This tells its own story. I have yet to see somebody rejoicing in the ability of any state service to provide a service through English.  

Hopefull the wrangling currently in progress in Leinster House as the new ten year delayed Language Bill will manage to sort out this particular problem. However looking at the Government's rejection of almost all of the recommendations of both the Coimisinéir Teanga and the Oireachtas Committee on the Irish Language, Gaeltacht and the Irish-speaking Community (Irish) not to mention those of Linguistic experts, language bodies and the ordinary Seán and Siobhán Citizen.

The Government - all Governments of whatever hue say they favour the advancement of the National Language. Ring up any Government and discover just how they have done in the 99 odd years of the State. The great Michael Collins said shortly before he died, "...the biggest task will be the restoration of the language. How can we express our most subtle thoughts and finest feelings in a foreign tongue? Irish will scarcely be our language in this generation, not even perhaps in the next. But until we have it again on our tongues and in our minds we are not free, and we will produce no immortal literature...."

The milk-watery efforts or indeed subtle hostility of some of his successors have in no small way contributed to the current situation.

I have quoted a Nigerian poet, John Ekwere, in this regard before and his words mutas mutandis perhaps reflect the situation.

"Now no more the palefaced strangers
With unhallowed feet
The heritage of our fathers profane;

Now no missioned benevolent despots
Bull-doze an unwilling race;


Now no more the foreign hawks
On alien chickens prey -
but we on us."

See also: National archive reveals shocking state cynicism! (4/9/2013)

and: Please Sir may I renew my driving licence! (29/10/2015)

Will 2030 be postponed as 1928 was?

Perusing the English language media this last week you might be forgiven for not knowing the the Government introduced the Official Languages bill in the Dáil on Thursday. This bill, promised for the past ten, if not more, years, is supposed to be the natural progression of the 2003 Act which established the Coimisinéir Teanga and various regulations to promote the use of Irish what after all is the National Language particularly in the public sector. 

Was that act a success? 

Judge for yourself. Note particularly that the first Coimisinéir, the much respected Seán Ó Cuirreáin, was left with no other choice but to resign from his role in ensuring the implementation of Irish language legislation. He said his decision was a result of the State's lack of commitment to the protection of Irish speakers' rights. He went on (in translation) to observe: "I fear that the exercise (Government's intentions in a long delayed new Language Act) will be seen as a fudge, a farce or a falsehood."

While the new bill does address some of the issues mentioned by Seán Ó Cuirreáin and his successor and many organisations and private citizens they are understandibly doubtful of the bona fides of the Government in bringing this bill forward. This is of course based on bitter experience from the actions of every Government of the state since 1928. 

Catherine Martin (Aire Gaeltachta 2020) Risteárd Ua Maolcatha, Aire Rialtas Áitiúil 1928) & Jack Chambers (Aire Stáit Ghaeltachta 2020)

Research, which possibly led to the aforementioned resignation, shows that "the Irish language policy of the Irish state from 1928 has been little more than an excercise in cynicism, deception and long fingering!" During that year the then Minister of Local Government & Health, Risteárd Ua Maolchatha, introduced Legal Instrument (No 23 0f 1928) which specified that any local or health authority employee with duties in the Gaeltacht (Irish speaking area) be given three years to learn sufficient Irish to be able to perform their duties in the local language. If they failed to do this they were to be let go. 

These provisions were never implemented. 

As a target date approached a new instrument was signed which postponed it for a further six or twelve months. In fact during the years between 1928 and 1966 this happened FIFTY FOUR (54) times. 

In 1974 the then Government enacted legislation which abolished the requirement of proficiency in the National Language for applicants to appointments in the civil service. The Taoiseach of the day fully understood what this would mean and wrote:  "..that the abolition of the requirement might cause some difficulties in regard to the Constitutional position of Irish as the first official language of the State and might lead to a situation where few civil servants would be able to conduct business in Irish with those members of the public who would wish and would be entitled to do so..." 

Oh how true!

The new act states that a fifth of new recruits to the civil service will have to be proficient in Irish from 2030 (IT). However there is a clause which allows the Minister to extend that date. One wonders how frequently will this be done. Fifty four times? It is little wonder the the General Secretary of Conradh na Gaeilge, Julian de Spáinn wearily says in todays Irish Times (Irish)  - "It is time for the Government parties to adhere and fulfill their promises (before the election)!"

One sign of hope was the number of speakers who addressed the introduction of the bill on Thursday. Twenty two deputies spoke over a period of several hours in a civilised, intelligent and useful debate. All parties and independent groups with the notable, and noted, exception of Fine Gael, the successor party of that which introduced the 1928 act. And the party whose minister removed the Irish language requirement in the civil service with the words, "...there will be no weakening of Irish in the civil service and there will be a greater desire to use it because of the ending of compulsion..." 

Recovering your essential fada!

Why risk a fine of €10 million?

This is good news: if your name is Ciarán, Oisín, Sinéad or Siobhán or Seán; or if your Surname has the prefix Ó, Ní or Uí; or if you have a combination of these.  This is a problem you have come across not once but many times. You try to book a ticket and this happens:

Ó Riain is my Passport Family Name so, strictly speaking I am unable to complete this registration.

The Coimisinéir Teanga, Rónán Ó Domhnaill,  has said "One’s name and surname is integral to one’s identity. There is no excuse for any person, company or organisation, not to mention an agency of the State, to anglicise that identity by registering people’s details in English when that is neither their wish nor their choice." (Report on Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources - 31 Dec 2015)

This report of an investigation into allocation of so-called postal codes, found that the Department had indeed breached legislation in using English versions of place names in the Gaeltacht but because "there is no language legislation at present that ensures the State has an obligation to accept the choice of the citizen regarding his/ her name ... it wasn’t included as a statutory question for which findings had to be made as part of the investigation."

He later observed in an address to an Oireachtas Committee that he was disappointed to note that there is no protection, either in the Official Language Acts (2003) nár any other act that protects the use of the use of the name, surname or address in whichever official language the citizen chooses. (Address to Oireachtas Committee on Irish, Gaeltacht and Islands [Irish] -  4 Oct 2016).

However if there is no law in Irish domestic legislation to protect the integrity of one's name the GDPR legislation* passed by the European Union in 2016 (8 April 2016) and enacted earlier this year (25th May 2018) which does so provide. I learned about this from an article and video, ‘Tá sé de cheart agat fada a bheith i d’ainm, faigh é!’ by the award winning Film producer Ciarán Ó Cofaigh (Cré na Cille, Murdair Mhám Trasna, Na Cloigne agus eile!) in the on-line news service tuairisc.ie.

The GDPR legislation "..lays down rules relating to the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and rules relating to the free movement of personal data..." (Article 1) but the regulation we are concerned with is Article 6 (Rectification) which baldly states:

"The data subject shall have the right to obtain from the controller without undue delay the rectification of inaccurate personal data concerning him or her. Taking into account the purposes of the processing, the data subject shall have the right to have incomplete personal data completed, including by means of providing a supplementary statement."

The real punch line in Ó Cofaigh's article comes near the end. Basically he says if more than one request of this nature is received by an entity - and this refers to all entities not just state owned companies or departments - fines of up to €10 million are allowed for.

He urges those who have this problem should make a request not on the basis of human rights (language rights) but under the the GDPR Legislation (Art 16).

He concludes, “Faigh do fhada ar ais, is libhse é agus tá sé de cheart agaibh é a bheith agaibh!” (Get your fada back, it is yours and you have a rigt to it!)

* The text of the GDPR regulations may be found here in English.  (It is also available in 24 other European Languages, including our own)

¨You may also like to consider just how important a fada can be.  Remember tha Sean means old whereas Seán ia a male name.

Liam Cosgrave's prophecy and Richie Ryan's legacy!

"There will be no weakening of Irish in the civil service and there will be a greater desire to use it..."

Liam Cosgrave, Taoiseach (L) & Riche Ryan, Minister for Finance. 

Richie Ryan was the Minister for Finance in the Fine Gael/Labour Party in the 1970s. There was a relatively strong movement at that time to abolish the necessity of Irish for candidates to work in the civil service. This came to a successful head when he announced the this in an announcement to the Dáil on the 27th Sept 1974.

He contrarily maintained that "...there will be no weakening of Irish in the civil service and there will be a greater desire to use it because of the ending of compulsion..." This despite the declaration at the time by a civil servant that the decision "...could lead eventually to a situation where few, if any, civil servants would have any knowledge of the language and it would almost certainly make it impossible to provide staff in sufficient numbers to deal with those who...would be entitled to expect to be able to conduct business in Irish with Government Departments and Offices..."

Even the Taoiseach of the time, Liam Cosgrave wrote prophetically in a memo, "the abolition of the requirement might cause some difficulties in regard to the Constitutional position of Irish as the first official language of the State and might lead to a situation where few civil servants would be able to conduct business in Irish with those members of the public who would wish and would be entitled to do so..." *

Today (14/5/2018) an article in the Irish on-line publication, Tuairisc.ie (ironically unavailable in many Gaeltacht area because of poor or unavailable broadband) demonstrates the fulfillment of Mr Cosgraves's prophecy is laid starkly bare.

They used the freedom of information (FOI) legislation to examine some correspondence on the great National Plan unveiled with great fanfare in the city of Sligo by The Taoiseach and Government on 16th February 2018. Apparently complaints had been made to the Coimisinéir Teanga about the unavailability of this policy document in the National Language which necessitated an official enquiry be sent to the relevent Department (Department of Public Expenditure and Reform). This instigated internal communications which demonstrate just how prophetic were the words of Liam Cosgrave.

An official response was made saying that the translation would issue "as soon as possible!" As yet no translation has appeared and presumable this lead to Tuairisc.ie making their enquiries under the Freedom of Information procedure. What they uncovered was illuminating of an attitude which is all to familiar to Irish people who wish to communicate with or be communicated by the Irish state in the National Language as is their Constitutional right.

The Coimisinéir's enquiry instigated some internal communications within the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform between the person responsible for replying and another functionary in the department. The advice was to state that a translation would be prepared "as soon as possible." The advisor continued, “It may also be helpful to state in the letter that efforts will be made to ensure that this does not reoccur.” 

The response back was shocking in its directness: “We just don’t have a capacity to deliver a letter in Irish, and can’t validate the detail of the complaint made (as it is in Irish). We also can’t particularly undertake that efforts will be undertaken to ensure this won’t recur, as presumably the Commissioner will expect a DPER corporate response to that effect.” To which the senior official responded “…I accept your point that you can’t particularly undertake that efforts will be undertaken to ensure this won’t recur at this time.”

Later this gem appears: “…It is most important that we respond correctly at this stage rather than have the matter escalated to a formal investigation by An Coimisinéir Teanga, which would be a lengthy and costly process given the amount of translating that your division would then have to be involved in.”

To date this 106 page document has not been provided in the National Language. The Coimisinéir Teanga has emphasised the importance that such documents are published bilingually and many people are upset that this does not seem to have happened in this instance.

A query made in 2013 still seems valid: "Are we foisting compulsory English in place of compulsory Irish in the state system of this country?"

* Details of research made by the previous Coimisinéir Teanga featured in an address made by him in 2013: National archive reveals shocking state cynicism!.  (4/9/2013). 

No impinging on English speakers? At what cost?

The Right Honourable Arlene Isabel Foster MLA has said: "There won't be a stand-alone Irish Language Act ... What we are trying to find is an accommodation and a way forward that values those people who are Irish speakers but doesn't impinge on the lives of those who aren't Irish speakers and I think that's important." (See Video)

It would appear that a long long history of impinging those who are Irish speakers is to be defended by the Right Honourable Lady.

This is a list shared on social media. It will indeed be interesting to see how the new Sinn Féin leadership plan to remove the centuries of impingment on the lives of Irish speakers. The fact that the party has elected a leader who is not an Irish speaker (A first for this party?) hardly fills one with hope.

"People who support the call for an Irish Language Act have been asked to copy and paste these facts on their Facebook page, given that some sort of compromise deal looks likely to happen in the coming days. It is well worth looking at these facts to remind ourselves how the state has dealt with the Irish language historically and to realise why the Irish language community are wary, to say the least, of trusting the Unionist establishment to do the right thing about anything that concerns the language.

1893: Thomas Lea, Unionist MP, South Derry – Proposes that Irish should be banned in National Schools and in Courts.

1899: Dr John Mahaffy, Unionist based in Trinity College – Discourages teaching of Irish in Palles Report, suggesting it a mischievous waste of time and that Irish language literature had no academic or education value

1900: James Rentoul, Unionist MP for South Down – Expresses Irish has no value, opposes bilingual signage, and expresses a desire for Irish to die out.

1906: John Lonsdale, Unionist MP for Mid-Armagh, describes Conradh na Gaeilge as ‘inspired by hatred and all things English.’

1912: Unionist politicians bring forward a proposal that only English be used in any new parliament, in the courts, and in the Civil Service.

1922: New Unionist Government post partition states: “What do we want with the Irish Language here? There is no need for it at all.”

1922: Department of Education removes post of Irish Language Organiser: “There is no such thing as an organiser of Irish Language.”

1922/23: Grants paid to the Irish Teacher Training Colleges in Belfast removed; bilingual programme ceased in the Tyrone Gaeltacht.

1923: Lyn Report: Irish restricted to 90 minutes per week teaching in Primary School: “Irish occupies a preferential position for which, in our judgement, there is no justification.”

1923: New Education Act for Northern Ireland: Irish banned as an optional subject in 5th Standard. Numbers studying Irish decline by 50% within two years.

1926: Irish banned as an optional extra in Standards 3 and 4, 70% of students studying Irish have to cease their study of the language.

1927: Comhaltas Uladh told: “Lord Charlemount is a Minister of firmness and backbone and the members of the Gaelic League have found he is neither to be cajoled nor threatened into doing something which would be subversive of the true educational interests of the Province”.

1933: All payment towards the teaching of Irish in Primary Schools ceased. Would remain so for over 80 years.

1936: Lord Craigavon: “What use is it here in this progressive busy part of the Empire to teach our children the Irish Language? What use would it be to them? Is it not leading them along a road which has no practical value? We have not stopped such teaching; we have stopped the grants – simply because we do not see that these boys being taught Irish would be any better citizens”

1942: Grand Lodge of Ireland (Orange Order): “That the Government of Northern Ireland be asked to remove from the Curriculum of the Ministry of Education the Irish language, and that no facilities be given in public, secondary or elementary schools for the teaching of such.”

In 1965 Irish speaking parents asked Dept of Education for a meeting to discuss opening the 1st Gaelscoil in Belfast. They were threatened with prison. Here is their request and the response:

"A deputation from the Gaelic speaking families in Belfast would appreciate a meeting with you (Dept. of Education, Dundonald House), to discuss the possibility of founding a primary school for their children."

Reply from John Benn, permanent secretary: "The Ministry would regard the fact that instruction was given entirely through the medium of "Gaelic" to constitute a ground for "complaint". I can now let you know that instruction given entirely through Gaelic would not constitute efficient and suitable instruction for the pupils". A complaint would therefore be served by the Ministry. If the proprietors do not remove the deficiency complained of, the ministry will formerly strike the school off the register. It is an OFFENCE against the law to conduct an unregistered school."

2016: A fisheries protection vessel had its Irish name replaced with its English translation because the executive department which owns it has a "single language policy".

2017: Arlene Foster:  'If you feed a crocodile it will keep coming back for more'

2018:  Queens LOL 1845 - "There is no price at which the Irish Language Act can be allowed into law."

The crocodiles are anxiously waiting.

Abandoned by Bank of Ireland!

This morning an article (Irish) in the on-line publication Tuairisc.ie reports yet another retrograde step in the service provided by the Bank of Ireland to its customers.

There have been many accounts in the media of their unwillingness to deal face to face with customers wishing to withdraw money at their branches. Now it appears that in replacing their ATM machines they are discontinuing the linguistic choices available on these machines. From now on these will be monolingual.

According to the article this means that the only ATMs remaining to recognise the National Language (no matter how low the apparent demand) are those in the Applegreen petrol stations. These have no connection with the Bank of Ireland.

Bank of Ireland have stated that only about 1% of users use the Irish language facility but state they are unable to say in what parts of the country are the highest users.

There are four of these that I use frequently (two or three times per month) which are deep in the Gaeltacht and now it appears that the policy of the Bank of Ireland is to deny the people of my area - and any Gaeltacht area - to use their facilities in their own language.

I look forward to the time when the Central Bank authorises our local Credit Union to issue cheque books and other banking services so I can move my own monies fully to its care.

I'm sure some of the Language organisations have accounts with the Bank of Ireland. I wonder how many will use the muscle to advise the bank, and indeed other Banks, of their opinions in this matter

#Gaeilge @bankofireland @ceartateanga 

Linguistic thoughts on the visit of a Prime Minister.

It's a great headline in today's Irish Times, "Bromance blossoms as Fanboy Slim meets Justin Biebeau" and (as usual) Miriam Lord had nailed another success to her never to be missed regular articles.

Premier ministre du Canada

This writer was struck by certain things during this visit by Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of the officially bilingual Canada to our own country. As is usual I was struck by linguistic aspects. How Canada "does it!" As an inveterate tweeter I am inclined to use twitter as a guage or measure of how things are.

It is interesting here to see how the two countries and "establishments" spoke about the same events.

The current Prime Minister of Canada has one personal twitter account @JustinTrudeau. He appears to tweet religiously on this account in both official languages, French first and then English. Compare with the Taoiseach of our country. Enda Kenny, as far as I can see, never tweeted other than in English. The new boy, Leo Varadkar, is perhaps to new to the job but so far it's not looking so good for Irish.

The Canadian Prime Minister has in addition two official twitter accounts, one in French (@PMcanadien) and the other in English (@CanadianPM). The tweets are concurrent and in addition in the profile they have links to the other language.

Uachtarán na hÉireann

During this trip he tweeted reports on his progress on all accounts and in both languages. I find it revealing that none of the commentators, including our national broadcaster, seemed to advert to this fact.

Compare and Contrast
Although the accounts are handled in a different way here it is marked that neither the tweets from the Taoiseach's personal account or the official Merrion Street (Irish Government News Service) tweets were totally monolingual and they only retweeted the tweets in English from the Canadian Accounts.

The only tweet from Irish officialdom on this visit in the National Language, (and what is often referred as the First Official Language) was on the twitter Account of the President . This account which was opened some years ago and attracted some adverse comment because it used the English "President" rather than the Irish -and more constitutionally correct(?) - "Uachtarán,"  form for the office. Having said that the President is in fact the only person who shows some modicum of respect for the National Language on this medium.

There was an official dinner given by the Taoiseach for his guest in Dublin Castle. It was interesting to hear the Prime Minister use both  official languages of his country (He apparently avoided using the "cúpla focal," thus avoiding that usual cringemaking applause reserved for such appeasement!) I wonder how often, if ever a Taoiseach ever used our National Language at such an occasion abroad!

Canada of course has a long tradition in bilingual activity and not only in French & English but more recently in fostering the indigenous languages. I have a vivid memory the passionate and emotional contribution of Sandra Inutiq, the first Nunavut Language Commissioner at the International Conference on Language Rights held in Dublin in 2013.

People complain about the intransigence of some representatives of the Unionist community with regard to our language but perhaps people on this side of the border, including those who purport to be fighting for Irish Language Rights, should look at their own house.

How much Irish is on the Fine Gael website.

How much Irish is on the Sinn Féin website?

How much Irish is on any Irish Political Website?

One is tempted to the belief that the words a commission on state attitude towards the Irish speaking community way back in 1926 are still valid and active and that the "establishment" in Ireland are still "direct agents in the spreading and establishment of English..."*



Don't we have lessons to learn?

Monolingual Taoiseach Tweet!

Bilingual Trudeau Tweet!

* Commentary on Language Schemes April 2017

I will not yield!

During the celebrations to mark the 20th birthday of TG4 (Halloween 2016) a short piece was broadcast featuring the talented actress Bríd Ní Neachtain. It was penned by Niamh Ní Bhaoill, and expresses strongly the frustration of the Irish speaking and Gaeltacht community within their own country.  This is the video and below is a translation in English.

We have put the original language in a box on the right so people can follow the text as Bríd speaks it if they wish!

What is wrong with us anyway?

Céard atá cearr linn ar aon chaoi? An bhfuil ár gcloigne sáite chomh fada sin suas ár gcuid tónacha nach dtuigeann muid go bhfuil an todhchaí tagtha cheana féin? An bhfuil ár dteanga caillte againn? Sin sin! Ró-mhall! Chaill muid an cath. Nó ar chaill? An cath a bhí ann ar aon chaoi? Cé a dúirt gurb ea? Nach mbeadh sé iontach a bheith in ann do theanga féin a labhairt is gan a bheith ag streachailt leis i gcónaí? Gan a bheith ag troid ar son cearta? Gan a bheith ag éileamh seirbhísí? Gan a bheith dod' chur féin soir leis? Gan a bheith go síoraí á cosaint? Nárbh fhearr i bhfad an t-airgead a chaitheamh ar ospidéil, nó bóithre, aon rud eile, deir siad linn. Níor chóir go mbeadh iachall ar dhaoine í a fhoghlaim ar scoil, dar leo. Iachall? Tá mé a cheapadh go bhfuair a chuile dhuine a chaith coicís saoire riamh i Sasana an "exemption". Seans go bhfaighinn féin ceann dá mbeinn á iarraidh. Agus céard atá fágtha dóibh siúd atá ag iarraidh staidéar a dhéanamh ar an nGaeilge? Leagan chomh cúng, chomh bunúsach, chomh simplí gur ar éigin go bhfuil aon bhlas dár litríocht, dár bhfilíocht, dár saibhreas teangan fágtha chun go gcuirfeadh ár scoláirí aithne uirthi, go mbeadh deis acu titim i ngrá léi. Tá sé i bhfad níos éasca gan a bheith i do ghaeilgeoir, gan aon dualgas ort foirmeacha dothuigthe a líonadh isteach ar líne, gan a bheith ag fanacht le "do ghnó a dhéanamh trí Ghaeilge", agus ar deireadh thiar thall nuair a fhaigheanns tú duine, nach mbíonn a fhios ag an diabhal bocht céard atá á rá agat? Ba bhreá liom éirí maidin eicint agus nach mbeadh orm m'ainm a litriú go deo arís, nach gcuirfeadh éinne ceist orm "Cad é an béarla air sin?" Gread leat! Is é m'ainm é! Is é an t-aon ainm amháin atá agam. Ní ghéillfidh mise. Is í mo theanga í!

Are our heads so long stuck up our arses that we don't understand that the future has already come?

Have we lost our language (tongue)? That's that! Too late! We lost the battle. Or did we? Was it a battle anyway? Who said it was?

Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to speak your own language and not be always struggling? Not to be fighting for rights? Not to be demanding services? Not to be driving yourself mad with it? Not to be constantly defending it? Would it not be a lot better to spend the money on hospitals, or roads, anything else, they tell us. It is not proper that people should be forced to learn it at school, according to them. Forced? It seems to me that everyone who ever spent a fortnight's holiday in England got the exemption. Perhaps I would get one myself if I wanted it.

And what is left for those who want to study the Irish language? A version so narrow, so basic, so simple that there is hardly anything of our literature, of our poetry, of our linguistic richness left in order for the students to get to know it, so that they might have an opportunity to fall in love with it.

It is a lot easier not to be an Irish speaker, no duty to fill out unintelligible forms online, no waiting to "do your business through the medium of Irish" and finally when you do get somebody, that the poor divil does not know what you are saying.

I would like to get up some morning and not have to ever spell my name again, that no one would ask me "What is that in English?"

Feck off! It's my name! It's the only name I have!

I will not yield.

It's my language!

Bear in mind that some of the subtleties of language are always lost in translation and indeed words regarded as unacceptable in English polite society are fine in other languages (and vice versa!). Emphasis in one language may be lost in the second, for example "Mise" is a far more emphatic word than "mé" though both are usually translated as the English word "I."

• See translation here too with word/phrase guide.

The mask slips...again!

Shortly after this piece was published the Minister blocked the writer from her twitter account. Translation "You have no permission to follow @mitchelloconnor or to view tweets from @mitchelloconnor!"

The Minister of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Mary Mitchell O’Connor, let slip the mask yesterday in the Dáil (7 Jul 2016).

The Minister

In a debate on the "Banded Hours Contract Bill 2016," a private members bill, the Minister is reported as having said, “The Bill adds significant burdens. It requires every employer to display notices in the workplace. These notices will have to show the number of hours being allocated to workers in the next week or month and the relevant bands."

Fair enough but then she continued, “These notices will have to be in English and Irish and in other languages as required. Imagine telling a Silicon Valley company that it has to display work rosters as Gaeilge in Ireland.” 

Other Comments
Here is a comment (in Irish) on the iGaeilge Blog. Its title is good as it draws the attention to the percieved ambivelence of the Irish administration in tax matters with relation to large International conglomerates!
“Imagine asking a Silicon Valley company to pay taxes in Ireland” (8/7/2016)
This also has an unforgettable video of this same public representatives inglorious exit from Leinster House on one of her first days as a TD!

Leaving aside the question as to just how significant a burden is the provision of notices in any language, let alone Irish, does not this little aside from the Minister highlight a bias and a prejudice we have seen before? Does it not highlight the Fine Gael party's attitude in general to the National Language?

One remark on twitter in response stated "Can you imagine telling the people of the Gaeltacht to do their business with the Jobs' Department in English?" (my translation). In effect this is almost universally the case. In fact in my own experience since the abolition of Irish as a requisite for joining the Civil Service, also by a Fine Gael minister in 1974, the matter of dealing with almost any Government Department in the National Language is difficult. It lead to another twitter remark "Fine Gall ar a seanaphort cúng gearr radharcach!" ("Fine Gall at its old narrow shortsightedness!"). Note the change the twitter makes to the name of the party - "Fine Gall" = "Family of Foreigners."

Indeed as eminant a person as Supreme Court Justice, the late Adrien Hardiman stated bluntly, "... the stark reality that the individual who seeks basic legal materials in Irish will more than likely be conscious of causing embarrassment to the officials from whom he seeks them and will certainly become conscious that his business will be much more rapidly and efficaciously dealt with if he resorts to English. I can only say that this situation is an offence to the letter and spirit of the Constitution." (Translation of review: : Ó Beoláin v.Fahy [2001] 2 I.R. 279)

On the same day as the Minister displayed her views President Michael D Higgins was quoting from P. H. Pearse - “The language movement is, of course, only a part of the national movement, but it is its most important part – the part which gives vitality and coherence to the whole.” (Translation from President's Office) Indeed this is not the first time the President has referred to the unique place of the National Language and the "apparant" lack of regard for it by State officialdom.

Not only is he echoing Pearse, Hyde, our First President and indeed the person to whom one would imagine all Fine Gael party members would revere, General Michael Collins. He declared shortly before his tragic assassination, "...the biggest task will be the restoration of the language. How can we express our most subtle thoughts and finest feelings in a foreign tongue? Irish will scarcely be our language in this generation, not even perhaps in the next. But until we have it again on our tongues and in our minds we are not free..." (The Path to Freedom, Michael Collins: 1922).

It would appear that the Fine Gael party as a whole have forgotten if not abandoned that aspiration.

@FineGael @JobsEnterInnov @ceartateanga