Putting the Gael into G-Mail!

Google has been a remarkable friend of the Irish language. From quite early on their search engine has had an Irish language version.

More recently it has provided a sometimes ridiculed translation facility. Among the Irish speaking community the facility offered by Google Translate's facility is sometimes unfairly criticised. The criticism should more properly be directed towards those who use it as a lazy way out,  rather than the remarkable technological achievement it does in fact represent. As somebody who uses it occasionally (not only for it's Irish section but also French, Italian, German and Portuguese) it is best used as a guide and a certain basic knowledge of the language is essential in using the facility. Thus somebody who wishes to say "rest" will know that "an cuid eile" (the other part) is not the same as "suaimhneas" (repose). Rest has at least two meanings in English.

Pic: Tuairisc.ie

Last week the Google organisation added a wonderful support system for the Irish Language. They launched the Irish version of GMail.

There are several interesting things which came to mind as I switched my own Gmail account to my own language!

Bottom up
First is that this was, like the others, a Google initiative. I understand that a Professor in St Louis approached them last year (2013) and asked if they were interested. They replied in the affirmative and a group of volunteers from Ireland, the US and elswhere, gathered and worked in association with the technical people in Google and in an incredibly short time a useable, accurate and user-friendly mail service was unveiled in less than 24 months.

This article in the business section of The Journal.ie describes how to change the working language of your g-mail account: Want to use Gmail as Gaeilge? Now you can!

Another example of this type of voluntary internet intervention is the availability of the Firefox browser in Irish - again quietly and with little state involvement, or the quiet evolving of facebook. And for more volunteer input just take a look at Vicipéid (Wikipedia as Gaeilge!).

Top down?
The second in this is the absence of any comment good bad indifferent, let alone encouraging, from the establishment on this launch. Indeed with one exception I have seen no comment for any member of the Seanad or the Dáil. One tweet commenting on this silence that because there was little or no Government input they were not willing to praise or give credence to such a initiative.

Compare and contrast with the launch of Microsoft as Gaeilge, which, I understand did have Government involvement and thus an extraordinary circus was organised with Government participation. Maybe you don't remember the hoopla: "A country-wide partnership was put in place and it included working closely with Foras na Gaeilge, DCU, NUI Maynooth, eTeams and EGTeo. The Irish speaking community was also invited to contribute to the community glossary, a foundational reference for all technical terms. Commencing in June 2004, the project took over 12 months to complete and involved the translation of over 600,000 terms in Irish, before being made available free to download. The programme was distributed free to all 4,000 primary and secondary schools and in 2006, An Taoiseach announced that due to its success, Irish language versions of Windows Vista and 2007 Office would also be made available." Was the Taoiseach at the launch of Gael Mail? Was the new Minister of State for Gaeltacht Affairs?

Also contrast the attitude of the Welsh government which supported the G-mail initiative in their own language.

Perhaps it is yet another example of the urge to control and centralise that seems to have been emphasised in Government since the exit of the Celtic Tiger.

Abolition of the democratic input in Údarás na Gaeltachta and it's gradual financial strangulation (finances reduced from around €20m to €6m), the attempted emasculation of the Office of the Comisinéir Teanga, the complete destruction of print media in Irish, the attempted decimation of the voluntary language organisations, the withdrawal of Gaeltacht family grants, the forcing through of a Gaeltacht Act without the consensual agreement of the parties in the Oireachtas for the first time in the history of the State, the appointment of a minister for Gaeltacht Affairs unable to converse in the language, the inexorable retreat on the obligations arising from the 2003 Language Act and every sign that the new Language Act will further weaken the position of the language that State organs claim to love, respect and declare a policy of encouraging. And more recently we learn the Nursery School movement for the naoinraí throghout the country is being disbanded (Gaeilge). All with little or no real public consultation.

Add to that the simple reluctance of many state entities and quangos to recognise  a letter with a diacritic mark. This is considered to be a different letter from its unmarked equivalent, and words that are supposed to have diacritic marks and don’t are considered to be misspelled. Thus they cannot recognise names or surnames with such accents. Ó Riain becomes "î Riain" and Éamon becomes "ƒamon" or Ciarán, "Ciar‡n". It cost nothing to have the software corrected to recognise this but does CIE and others care to do it?  (see Why The Internet Hates My Name (It’s The Accent Marks) for an understanding of why this is so.)

Dearg le Fearg

So what does this show?
More and more people are beginning to realise that the political system is failing the historic Irish nation and its people. In February 7000 to 10000 marched in Dublin. In March upwards of 1000 marched in Conamara, 5000 to 7000 in Belfast and various smaller protests occured elsewhere, and not only in Ireland, demanding action on Irish. No real response.

We have seen this in other demonstrations on other causes all being met more or less with the same incomprehension of the powers-that-be. The message "This is Ireland, we speak Irish, get over it!" has been sadly lost among the 97% of the Government who are unable to serve those of us who speak the national language - the European language in longest continuous use as a vernacular. The Government's message continues to be: "Speak Irish to each other but don't speak it to us!" (cf: The State attitude to the National Language & its speakers!)

Google, Mozilla (Firefox) & facebook are commercial organisations which value our ancient lan and are prepared to use it.

Let us thank them and use what they offer.

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 end or "What good is Irish this side of Maam Cross?"

This is a CineGael film, directed by Bob Quinn with commentary by Desmond Fennell, made some decades ago. I found it on the stimulating TGcóa YouTube site. Well worth a look!

What has the government done to serve the people of the Gaeltacht before or since?  It would appear to have been taken over by those, in the words of our President, "for whom the language is not dead enough!" President Michael D Higgins has said that to prevent people from speaking their own language is a denial of human rights.  Addressing an international conference last year (May 2013), he said rights are denied when people are discouraged from speaking a language or when a language is allowed to become subordinate in usage.

Read also "Waiting for eggs for omelettes since 1892!" for an assessment of current affairs as of December 2013. Is it too much to ask that the call of Ireland's first President in 1892 be listened to again?

Has the Government of Ireland, or indeed any state agency, done anything at all to discourage, never mind to halt, this subordination of the Constitutionally recognised language of the historic Irish nation used and fostered by the people of the Gaeltacht for millenia?

Watch this 30 minute film from the early eighties!

We are trained to be so!

Appointment of new Education Minister reminds us of historic address at founding of Sinn Féin.

Jan O'Sullivan,
Education Minister

Our Taoiseach in his wisdom has appointed a new Minister for Education who hopefully will have a better understanding of the heritage, not to say the psyche of the Irish nation. That she realises that she presides over a Department which fifty odd years did the bulk of its business through a language that today is understood by 1.5% of its officials. (2010 Report of Commissioner Teanga)

I recently came across a piece from the eminent surgeon Oliver St John Gogarty when he addressed the founding meeting of Sinn Féin. He made a fierce attack on the education system under the British in November 1905. He was echoing President Douglas Hyde twelve years earlier and impressed Arthur Griffith so much that he quoted extensively from the address in his paper, The United Irishman.

"Money was taken from the Irish people by forced taxation to supply the needs of Irish education. How was this Irish money used to educate Ireland? The language of Ireland was suppressed, the history of Ireland was ignored and mis-stated, the attention of Ireland was turned to a foreign country, the character and tradition of which was the direct contrary of the character of the Irish tradition. The focus of national life was set in London.

Oliver St John Gogarty

"Who was responsible for this? Ourselves! Yes, without either ignorance or apathy so preposterous and absurd a proposition as that a foreign nation could or should rightly educate another would not be tolerated for a moment. England dare not educate us as Irishmen: She would be raising up judges to denounce her and condemn. She taught us for her own purpose and we had taste of the result - narrowness in the primary schools, grinding in the Intermediate, and the final stages of education left unprovided with a university or any means of training either efficient or adequate for national life, with the result that we were dependent on England, for we were trained to be so."

Is the situation any better one hundred and ten years later? "The government (Dept of Education) taught us for her own purpose and we had taste of the result - narrowness in the primary schools, grinding in the Intermediate, and the final stages of education left unprovided ... leaving us with a dependance on English and English values, for we were trained to be so."  In other words we are trained and expected to acquiesce to the unspoken but clearly understood mantra “Speak Irish among yourselves, but don’t speak it to us!”.

Today we have a former Taoiseach positing that we would have been better off had we accepted the John Redmond compromise. When we have a present Taoiseach who considers Irish and the Gaeltachta as a museum exhibit - lumped as a tail-end to the lowly department of Arts & Heritage. Or to quote a contemporary speaker, "we merely have a sub-section which deals with the Irish language and Gaeltacht issues – a sub-section of a department which is large and diverse... And that sub-section is located far from the centre of power...it is at the bottom of the internal power chain within its own department; and that parent department is at the bottom of the power chain to which all the Government Departments belong, which means that it is difficult for it to have any significant impact on policy formulation or on the implementation of the policies of those other departments which have a central role in the implementation of the 20-Year Strategy for the Irish language...” (Five of the years of the 20 Year Strategy have already expired!)

The Taoiseach

If we had a government serious about the language there are many many things they could do without costing the taxpayer a cent. Our Taoiseach could speak it voluntarily in the Dáil and not merely because the leader of Sinn Féin uses it to ask a question. He could treat the people of the Gaeltacht (and the Islands) as real people and not as exhibits. He could decide that all state bodies and initiatives had names in Irish from their conception (How many people know what "The Gathering" was called in Irish?). He could employ people who are competent to deal with people in the National Language instead of forcing the use of English. He could have teachers trained correctly instead of the half hearted way the language is handled now.

Taoiseach, we use English with the State because you have not trained your bureaucracy (which should be our bureaucracy) to do anything else. And they they say there is no demand. "Language rights are permanent rights; they are not concessions or privileges granted at times of prosperity." (Seán Ó Cuirreáin).

Can any of us point to a politician who believes that?

Do we believe it ourselves?

Enda sends a linguistic message!

Speak Irish among yourselves, but don’t speak it to us!

I don't know Joe McHugh. They say he is a competant professional and I'm sure they are right! But he has been selected to work in a area for which he is extraordinarily illprepared. He cannot interact with the people on who's behalf he is supposed to be working. This is a pity because he is guaranteed no time to ease into his position but has been despatched on a short course to "brush up" on his Irish. The fact that the Taoiseach thinks that one short course will achieve the fluency that fourteen years failed to do speaks volumes for the naivety of Enda Kenny.

Does he?

The anger of the public has been demonstrated by the intensity of twitter and facebook contributions since the appointment was made. The reactions ranged from total incomprehension to deep anger and frustration. In this writers experience it is even more intense that that generated thn the twitter storm generated by the principled resignation of the first Language Commissioner. Remember the reasons he gave for his resignation and the conclusion he came to:

"The choice I had was to stand aside from my appointment as Coimisinéir Teanga on principle to draw attention to these matters or to continue in my role and, consequently, to participate in a pretence." 

(Address to Joint Oireachtas Committee, 23 Jan 2014)

Does anyone believe that this decision of our Taoiseach gives the lie to this statement? He is reported as saying that the lack of facility of the new Minister is an advantage in that it draws attention to the language. What on earth does he believe the responsibility for "Gaeltacht Affairs" is about?

Tom O'Donnell, TD Some people point to the appointment of Tom O'Donnell as Minister for the Gaeltacht in 1973 as somebody with less than fluent Irish. I actually remember him attending functions back then and hearing him speak. Though he could hardly be called an exponent of Ciceronian-rhetoric, in either language, he made his points succinctly and clearly and in Irish. There is another difference, he was a senior minister who sat at Cabinet with the sole responsibility for the Gaeltacht. The last such. Whether he was successful as a Gaeltacht minister is another matter  - enthusiastic and active for the development of the Gaeltacht areas he was indeed. The status of Irish in the Civil Service however was demoted by his Minister for Finance, Richie Ryan and suffered a blow from which it has never recovered. This and other administrations conduct down the years was commented on by Seán Ó Cuirreáin some months before his decision to resign in an address on the launching of Coláiste na hÉireann.

The Taoiseach said, in a comment which could indeed be interpreted as insulting to the the new Minister of State, that he had little choice but to select Mr McHugh with such a small pool of suitable candidates. He actually sacked at least two Ministers of State with fluency and experience in using the language, in this shuffle.

 There is of course one fresh face he overlooked which has almost the same criteria as the man selected. His only disadvantage being that he is a frst time TD (This did not seem to be a problem though in other appointments!) The man I am talking about lives in a area peripheral to the Gaeltacht. He is in a constituency ripe for yet another TD from the Sinn Féin party with an articulate and enthusiastic candidate from deep with in the strongest area of the Gaeltacht straining at the leash. The difference between this Seán Kyne and the one selected is that he has demonstrated an enthusiasm for his constituents, improving the Irish he learnt in the fourteen years in order to better serve constituents living in Gaeltacht areas. He has shared information on his website and the social media networks in that language. Because of this he has earned the respect and indeed praise of many members of the public and indeed his political enemys. Contrast with Mr McHugh whose tweets and statements before his appointment are exclusively in English and he had displayed thus far no interest and indeed little knowledge of the problems experienced by Irish speakers in dealing with the state.

This decision of our Taoiseach leaves many people speechless, angry and uncomprehending. The only place many Irish speakers can vent this is in the electronic media since the Irish speaking print media has effectively been gagged by a Government financed QUANGO. (see also "The Gaeltacht Voice is silenced!") Nevertheless the controversy has managed to penetrate into the usually hostile or at best indifferent English print and vision media.

Many Irish people were incredulous when the "Irish" Daily Mail's main headline, "An insult to our language!" And look at this from the Belfast Telegraph - New Gaeltacht ministers who can't speak Irish 'will become fluent'

Champion of the Irish Language!

Hidden away in the Treibh section of the Irish Times on Tuesday was an article, The wouldn't would they? which indicates some of the wonder this decision has engendred. The writer replys to his own question, "Well, they just did and we now have a Gaeltacht minister who doesn’t have enough Irish to conduct a credible live interview about Gaeltacht affairs with RnaG or Nuacht TG4. The disbelief at the promotion of McHugh is, of course, no reflection on a capable, hard-working and respected public servant, but choosing to assign to him the Gaeltacht brief...." Thursday's (17/7/2014) Irish Times  has a plethera of letters as well. Later on the Saturday morning the Editorial commented: A tongue-tied minister. (19/7/2014). The organ of the Irish in America, Irish Central, said "Irish language minister with poor Irish is a complete farce and insult!" (22/7/2014) and Sunday Independent, It seems we are destined to forever talk about Irish and never get around to actually speaking it (John Downing 27/7/2014).
A tweet which says, "The whole thing reads like an unaired epsode from Fr Ted," directs to this article in the Irish Independent! The story even reached the hallowed pages of the BBC's Europe site, "Irish protest as 'rusty' minister Joe McHugh books course!" and God alone where else!

 All these comments and accounts point to an understanding of this Government's and the whole State Bureaucracy's attitude as “Speak Irish among yourselves, but don’t speak it to us!”

 The "language question" is extremly complex in all juristrictions. One just has to follow the tweets of Indigenous Tweets to see that.  or to read the report of the first International Conference of Language Commissioners and Ombudsman to realize that. Perhaps one of the Canadian Commissioners encapsulted the philosophy behind language rights in a single sentence, "We are talking not only about rights here but about the right thing to do!"

Enda Kenny has not done the right thing.

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But at least he's not a woman....

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• "The middle classes think it a sign of vulgarity to speak Irish."

Thomas Davis, Young Ireland, 1845

• "We must bring pressure upon our politicians not to snuff it (Irish) out by their tacit discouragement merely because they do not happen themselves to understand it."

Douglas Hyde (1892)

• "There can be no greater delusion than to imagine that a language can be kept alive alone by teaching."

 Eoin Mac Neill (1900)

"I believe that the language is continuously being edged aside, pushed towards the margins of society and that includes much of the public sector. I would not support the premise that the fault lies primarily with politicians but it appears to me, notwithstanding those within the State sector who support the language, that there are stronger and more widespread forces in place who have little or no concern for the future of our national language"

Seán Ó Cuirreáin (2014)

The slaughter completed -

The thoughtless, illconsidered and destructive work of Foras na Gaeilge continues as this last message appeared on the Gaelport site.

After 71 years of tireless and selfless dedication the work of Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaelige has no ceased with little or no provision been made to continue its work of co-ordinating the efforts of the voluntary bodies which make it up or for the continuation of its own work.

This included for internet users it's irreplaceable (and unreplaced!) Gaelport service of drawing the Irish language comunity's attention to items of news in the print media.  Does it not bode ill for the stated attitude of Foras na Gaeilge of fostering an internet news service that before anything concrete can be seen to replace it the destruction of a service that does exist is permitted.

This statement is the last issued very early this morning from the Comhdháil, short and dignified.

End of an era as Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge is dissolved End of an era as Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge is dissolved In January of this year Foras na Gaeilge announced the results of a rationalisation process within the Irish language voluntary sector in which six lead-organisations were selected under a new funding model which came into effect on 01 July 2014. Based on the criteria set by Foras na Gaeilge during the application process Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge was not selected as a lead-organisation and as a result funding to An Chomhdháil ceased on 30 June 2014 at which point all six employees were made redundant. At a meeting held last night, 14 July 2014, the Board of Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge took the decision to dissolve An Chomhdháil in accordance with Section V of its constitution. It was put on record at the meeting that the Board felt that due to the decision by Foras na Gaeilge to cease funding of the organisation, that there was no other option but to dissolve, with immediate effect, the organisation which was founded in 1943. The meeting praised the staff of Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge, and praised the advocacy undertaken by An Chomhdháil on behalf of Irish language speakers for more than 70 years. Speaking at the final meeting of the Board, President of Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge, Deirbhile Nic Craith, extended her gratitude to the member organisations of An Chomhdháil for their support since 1943, especially during the recent rationalisation process. Nic Craith praised the work of An Chomhdháil as the central steering council of the Irish language movement and thanked the staff for their diligence and their loyalty, and wished them well in their future endeavours.

The Irish speaking community and the Gaeltacht communities throughout Ireland will be the poorer for the absence of Comdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge and the wider Irish Speaking community throughout the world are already missing Gaelport.

Gura maith agaibh board members and staff for all the work you have unselfishly given over the past seventy one years.

Gura maith agaibh as an obair le 71 bliain anuas. Ní raibh deireadh mar seo tuilte agaibh!

Tragedy in Kildare Street!

Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge was established in 1943. Its role is to act as a coordinating body for voluntary Irish language organisations. (The National Youth Council of Ireland and The Irish Congress of Trade Unions are similar umbrella organisations).

Sad reminder of the quality of the Gaelport site!
Awards like this had little influence on FnaG!

Gaelport.com was the leading Irish language news and information website listing Irish classes, Irish job vacancies and Irish language events. It was a project of the Comhdháil funded by Foras na Gaeilge. As such it was an award winning news site for Irish speakers and indeed those whose Irish was a little rusty as a lot of the material was in two languages.

In January of this year, Foras na Gaeilge announced the six organisations chosen to partake in their new funding model. As Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge, the organisation who runs Gaelport.com along with many other projects, was unsuccessful in its efforts to secure a place among the six lead organisations, there remained no option for the Board of An Chomhdháil but to cease the employment of its six staff members in light of its core-funding being completely cut.

"...the politically-powerless Irish-speaking communities at home were being deliberately and knowingly starved of resources...." (An Sionnach Rua!) Irish Governments ant1-Irishness!

It had been hoped to transfer the bulk of the work, including gaelport.com, carried out by the Comhdháil since 1943.  With their almost almost 71 years of experience they were hampered by the fact that successful organisations were unsure of the resources which would be allocated to them after 30 June 2014. This may still be the situation. (While writing this we understand that Foras na Gaeilge are also withdrawing funding from another Web Site used extensively throughout the world beo.ie which will make it very difficult to continue! The unenviable record of Foras na Gaeilge is thus added to as they continue on this incomprehensible destruction, without replacement, of the Irish Language media, at least three newspapers and some other periodicals.)

The most alarming and disgraceful part of this is the lack of communication from Foras na Gaeilge with the Comhdháil, and the other organisation whose employees work is so little appreciated that they have given no advice or shown any concern for the future of these dedicated people.

The Board of Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge had little choice but to wind down the operation and organisation in an orderly way until the funding was finally withdrawn from it at the end of June.

Today we have seen terribly sad pictures being tweeted of a skip being filled with the ruins of 71 years of voluntary and dedicated activity!

Nobody denies that the organisation of the voluntary sector in the language movement should be rationalised but the unthinking bureaucracy which so recklessly wielded the axe leaves an angry and untrusting public. This could be seen when up to 10000 people marched through Dublin in February, a thousand marched in Conamara later in February, thousands also marched in Belfast in April and smaller gatherings took place in other venues. Part of the reason for these marches was the Governments' policy or lack of policy for the National Language.

The Irish people should be greatful to the staff of Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge and their dedicated work over the past seventy years. That has now been lost because a lack of appreciation or indeed understanding of Foras na Gaeilge.

Foras na Gaeilge is the body responsible for the promotion of the Irish language throughout the whole island of Ireland. It is difficult to see how this slaughter may be called promotion. It is difficult to see any logic at all in their actions.

These are the sad pictures from Kildare Street today!