http://www.gaelport.com/index.php?page=clippings&id=1528&viewby=date

quote:

There can, and always should be, a healthy debate about the nature of this support. This debate is probably most lively and presents greater disagreement among the Irish-language community than anywhere else. Irish speakers are no 'bog oak monolith' as they were once described by a Government minister. But they are always concerned about the wilder shores of comment sometimes uttered by people who should know better.

Very few Irish speakers go through life without facing levels of comment and abuse that could be sometimes classed as racist. Although we rarely hear now the sentiment expressed some months ago in a letter to this paper that the teaching of Irish might be viewed as a kind of 'cultural child abuse', there are still some times when one has to bite hard.

Labhartha that mo cheann, a Alan.

Is fiú riamh Alan a léamh. Tá urlabhra aige.

recté: Labhartha thatr mo cheann, a Alan.

Is fiú, go deimhin. Is fiú an Irish Times a cheannacht Déardaoin ar mhaithe le haltanna Alan.

"While, on the one hand, there is a very positive attitude to the language in the country at large, and even in Seanad Éireann, there is always a difficulty in translating this goodwill into action."

Sounds like the excuse of someone who is a bit fed-up. There is no goodwill. Oscail do ghob, agus nuair a thit píosa Gaelg amach, thosaigh an 'goodwill' ag ruaigeadh...

An bhfuil tú i do chónaí in Éirinn, a BhRN? Is dócha go dúirt tú cheana ach ní cuimhin liom.

Ní raibh mé ansin ach uair amháin, agus sin ar feadh tréimhse ró-ghearr le tuairim ceart a cheapadh. Ach d'oscail mé mo ghobsa ar shráideanna Bhleá Cliath, adhmaidin Sathairn a bhí mé ann. Thit cúpla píosa Gaeilge amach (OK, níor thit siad amach go beach, bhí orm iad a sháigh amach! Níl mé liofa ar chor ar bith.) agus níor airigh mé gur tharla aon drochmheas orm. Freagraí sibhialta go leor a bhfuair mé.

Ní scaoth breac, ar ndóigh... ach mar sin féin ní déarfainn nach bhfuil dea-mhéin ar bith ag baint leis an nGaeilge.

Oh my apologies -I'm living in Ireland (the Ireland in my space-time continuum, my universe/brane) and I say that people are hostile to Irish.

Disagree all you want.

the Ireland in my space-time continuum, my universe/brane
I guess what I'm (still) wondering is, is that the same Ireland that's on the world map above my desk? (I'm sure you've probably said before, but I just couldn't remember.)

Feiceann súil ghruama saol gruama?

A Abigail a chara,

He does indeed live in Ireland on your map.

As to the informed debate in Irish, I really like being allowed to participate here when we talk and when we have debates, especially about Irish and I appreciate that I'm noticed. I apologize that I'm not as clever as the clever ones here as to debate in Irish and I know that my lack of knowledge means that my opinion will naturally be less informed. But I do like getting to participate here and I'd be very sad if I couldn't.

Beir bua agus beannacht

I have no objection to debates in english on irish. I just wanted to make the point that people who are not aware of the debate going on in irish do not have anything like the full picture.

It's accepted that you're talking 80% beag nó mór feel empathy towards the language and want to see it promoted etc..

"He must, at this stage, be getting a little tired of pointing out, yet again, that the point of the Language Act is to underpin the rights of Irish speakers and those who want to use the language, and it does not in any way diminish the rights of others who wish to use English or any other language."

This is the point. I know people who have gone on to never use it again, and others who have become fluent. As a native language that's been somewhat neglected in recent periods, it's appropriate to stimulate and nurture the methods by which the language is taught and generally accepted in society.

I reject completely and utterly any suggestion that the promotion of Irish in any way diminishes the rights of English speakers, especially in the context of Ireland's native tongue clearly being the underdog.

I was made fun of if I spoke Irish in Public Service buildings like University ,Public Library, Dept of Agric regional office, Motor Tax office etc ever since I can remember from 1975 up to the present day.Our civil servants cannot deal with the public in "Our First Language" and what still happens is one is put on "Hold"/ till someone who can mutter a few words is brought forward to deal with the query/service.
Uaidh sin ar aghaidh ní úsaidim Gaeilge ar chor ar bith mar tá olc agus gráin láidir ar an nGaeilge san tStáit Seirbhís fós san lá atá inniu ann.ós rud é go bhfuil an t-othar ar chois na h-uaighe tá sé ró-mhall anois í a shárú ón mbás.
Personally I don't see what advantage or good it is to anybody to have a "near extinct" language". perhaps a better bet would be Russian or Mandarin,Cantonese etc at least there will be plenty of speakers around in 100 years time not like Gaeilge,Gáidhlig etc.

What then do we make of pronouncements such as "Trawler owners granted right to Irish speaking judge (Dec 07, 2006)" (http://www.oceanfm.ie/onair/donegalnews.php?articleid=000003868), the popularity of new productions such as Aifric on TG4 (http://www.aifric.tv/index.asp?C_ID=1), and even videos like "Talk to the Hand" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFSjp4pzbZ8) on YouTube?

I am very much encourgaged by the growth of opportunities to use, hear and see Irish. Gaeilge is not dead yet.

Maidhc

The fact that the trawler owner had to make the application at all bears out Mick Rua's point:

quote:

It is appropriate to read what Mr. Justice Hardiman said again in English:

The modern State necessarily imposes many onerous duties on citizens in relation to various aspects of life, from tax compliance to planning law. Many of these duties are irksome, time consuming and expensive to comply with but compliance is properly required. Equally, the State must comply with its obligations, particularly those enshrined in the Constitution, and can no more be heard to complain that such compliance is irksome and onerous than can the individual citizen. In particular, the State cannot be heard to complain that its non-compliance over a period of decades has now rendered present compliance ever more difficult.

My emphasis, quoting Éamon Ó Cuív quoting Mr Justice Hardimanin the 2001 case which vindicating Irish speakers rights to court proceedings in Irish.

Irish speakers are used to bad or no service if they try to get it in Irish; so they usually don't bother.

The official languages act is an an attempt to redress this balance.

If you speak Irish, I recommend you read the minutes of the recent Oireachtas committee meeting on regulations under the act I posted during last week.

The whole ceist mar gheall ar bhás na gaeilge..
Tá sé mar cheart ag gach éinne tuairim pearsanta bheith acu ach i ndáiríriously would u not listen to the people who should know - teangeolaithe..

Gaeilge has over
100,000 who can speak the language (the ability)
State support

Therefore Gaeilge is one of the few languages expected to last the next 100 years.
End of.