Here's an article that I ran across the other day:

An appeal court has acquitted an Irish language teacher who had been
arrested for talking to the PSNI police in Irish.

Ms Nic an Bhaird was arrested after leaving a bar on the Malone Road in
May last year. She denied making the defiant republican call 'Tiocfaidh
Ar La', meaning 'Our day will come, to a PSNI unit in Belfast last
summer, which led to her arrest on the grounds of disorderly behaviour.
The PSNI held her in custody demanding she spoke in English before
they let her go.

She was later convicted of the offence at Belfast Magistrate's Court in
February and fined a hundred pounds sterling.

On Friday a judge accepted her appeal against the conviction and she
was acquitted.

Ms Nic an Bhaird said she had used the similar phrase 'Tiocfaidh Bhur
La' - meaning you will have your chance and meant as a reference to her
friends.

Speaking afterwards, Sinn Fein's Bairbre de Brun said Ms Nic an Bhaird,
should "never have been in court in the first place".

"Maire Nic an Bhaird has now spent a long time trying to defending
herself," she said.

"She was brought to court because she spoke Irish on the streets of
Belfast."

Nice to know that the whole thing has finally been worked out. GRMA for letting us know about the finish. By the way how was your family's visit to Eire over the summer, you know the visit that I was jealous of :)

Beir bua agus beannacht

Not sure about this whole thing. I think it will do the Irish language no favours in Northern Ireland. Once again, it's being associated with Sinn Fein and republicanism/nationalism in general.

Perhaps she was arrested simply for being drunk and disorderly towards the officer?

quote:

Perhaps she was arrested simply for being drunk and disorderly

The judge in the appeal court clearly didn't think so.
And the police admitted that they had a quota of arrests to meet that night (or so Lá reports) - that I find worrying.

The Sinn Féin issue is not going to go away. The fact is that many, pssoibly most, Irish speakers in the North's experience is that Sinn Fein representatives are more likely to stand up for their langauge rights. There are thoise in the SDLP as well, but the experience is that Sinn Féin will make more noise, and get results.

Just as the DUP will make as much noise as possible, and introduce as many red herrings as possible, to avoid any recognition of Irish.

Perhaps. I'm referring more to those who aren't republican or nationalist. Something like this isn't going to warm them to the Irish language. Nor are Sinn Féin MLAs speaking Irish (some of it very poor) in the Assembly at every possible opportunity. Never mind that most of the people in the Assembly have no Irish at all. It plays into the hands of those who claim Irish in Northern Ireland is merely a political football. I mean, how many PSNI officers can speak Irish?

DIY01

It's not only SF politicians who use Irish in the Assembly, at least two members of the SDLP do so as well. Would you rather nobody spoke Irish in case certain people claim it's being done so for political reasons?

The fact is that the vast majority of Irish speakers do not use the language as a political football. Some Unionists may associate Gaelic with Republicans etc. but that lies in the fact that SF is the only group given coverage by the media on Irish language issues.

It's the DUP and UUP, and to a lesser extent the English-language media, who are really playing political football with Irish Gaelic.

"Perhaps she was arrested simply for being drunk and disorderly towards the officer?"

And perhaps the court who found her not guilty had access to the full access to the facts.

Irish is for everyone, not just for non-republicans.

"It plays into the hands of those who claim Irish in Northern Ireland is merely a political football"

They also reserve the right to change our names to whatever they deem them to be, taking away a part of our humanity and taking to themselves rights of ownership.

They fight to destroy our Gaelscoileanna.

They fight to deny us essential services in Irish.

They fight againist Irish in the media, on signs, in schools, in councils, in the assembly, they call it a leipreachan language, say it is disgusting, call us a dead people, say people who rear their kids with Irish are child abusers, tell lies about the nature of our language, mock us, call us mafia, openly declare war on our culture.

This is rascism. It should not and cannot be the policy of Irish speakers to pander to this base hatred and intolerance.

We should always try to educate of course but that is different from tolerating langauge policy being dictated by the most intolerant sections of society.

Political Unionism has not in truth the power to affect the amount of Irish spoken in the north. I ask them no permission to be a Gael and expect none in return.

No more sitting at the back of the bus.

I am not always impressed by the level of Irish spoken in the assembly (which is more than in the Dáil) but I would rather die than question anyones rightto speak Irish in Ireland. I refuse to fall back another inch.

quote:

I'm referring more to those who aren't republican or nationalist

The experience in the south is that well meaning attempts not to offend people play into the hands of those who want to be offended. (See e.g. the LFM in the 1960s).

See also the roars that came out when the Language Act was passed, to clarify Irish speakers rights in this jurisdiction.

I don't like Sinn Féin's policy on a range of issues. But I don't have to live in the North.

Often enough I have been treated offensively in the South for speaking Irish and using the form of my name which my great grandfather chose.

And I still have to put up with petty stupidity if I look for services in Irish:

quote:

“An dearcadh a bheadh againn ná go bhfuil Béarla ag cainteoirí Gaeilge cheana féin agus de bharr sin nach mbíonn na fadhbanna tuisceana céanna acu is a bhíonn ag cainteoirí Polainnise nó Sínise,” arsa Mary Brennan, (Bank of Ireland spokeperson)

Use of Irish language is something which a significant number of people have strong feelings about. It is therefore going to be contentious.

Take for example the 11 plus exam in the North. Sinn Féin thinks it's a bad idea. Unionists think it is a good idea.
Would you advocate supporting it to avoid offending Unionists, or do we make up our own minds?

There seems to be a kind of Godwin's law attitude: if Sinn Féin support something, that loses the argument for that side.

I wonder would the PSNI be so keen on pressing ahead with charges if Bean Nic An Bháird wore a hijab, spoke Urdu,Punjabi,Pashtun,Farsi or any such Asian language and had brown - skin .
Musa mannaí nach gcuirfeadh siad iallach uirthi Béarla a labhairt ansin.
Bhur dtuairmí .......

(Message edited by mickrua on September 22, 2007)