Sinn Féin’s uncommon aspiration

As Sinn Féin’s election manifesto largely ignores the 20-Year Strategy for the Irish language, you could argue that it is broadly in line with current Government policy.

That would, however, be an unfair summation of the many imaginative proposals for the language contained in For a Fair Recovery, the party's manifesto which was launched earlier this week.

Sinn Féin previously indicated that they would scrap the 20-year Strategy and dream it all up again, but the party’s bilingual manifesto stops short of promising such a radical move.

Instead, we are treated to a series of promises about the Irish language that, even allowing for the anything-goes atmosphere of a general election, show a level of aspiration uncommon among our political parties.

Naturally, the idea that Sinn Féin in government would buck the trend of political history and deliver on their electoral promises requires a leap of imagination.

Sceptics will also argue that the party has an underwhelming record on the Irish language in Stormont, where one of their first actions after the Good Friday Agreement was to surrender the language and culture ministry to the UUP in favour of the more attractive bauble of education.

But Sinn Féin certainly cannot be accused of displaying the same attitude to Irish that has been traditionally favoured by the political establishment during election time.

That attitude usually manifests itself in two ways: publically, parties and candidates make all the right noises about how Irish is a cornerstone of our identity and heritage, while privately they take the view that while tis a ‘nate’ little language when tis spoken properly, there wouldn’t be enough votes in it to be worrying too much about it.

In contrast, on the evidence of their detailed policy, Sinn Féin seems to have actually spent some time worrying about the Irish language.

True, early on, the party’s surfeit of ambition threatens to undermine their efforts with a commitment “to the restoration of the Irish language as the spoken language among the majority of the people of Ireland”, but the fog of guff is lifted almost immediately by a pledge of support for Conradh na Gaeilge’s three pre-election demands.

Those reasonable pledges – a senior minister with primary responsibility for the Gaeltacht, a full Oireachtas committee for Irish language and Gaeltacht affairs and increased funding for Foras na Gaeilge and Údarás na Gaeilge – are followed by some common sense promises and a few innovative ideas.

€2 million would be set aside for the development of Irish-language centres in towns and cities, Irish-language teaching assistants would be provided for all post-primary schools and adequate resources would be provided for education body an Chomhairle um Oideachas Gaeilge agus Gaeltachta.

Parents sending their children to Irish college could avail of a tax credit, and, for households in receipt of the medical card, summer college fees would be reduced by 20 per cent. Cuts to funding for mná tí would also be reversed.

Parents of pupils in Irish-language medium schools would be encouraged to use Irish with their children, and support would be provided for the establishment of Irish language community radio stations.

Under a Sinn Féin government, we could look forward to a Civil Service in which 20 per cent of workers are proficient in Irish, and to Irish-language classes for the employees of all local authorities.

In this brave new world, all new public road signs would give equal prominence to Irish and English placenames, another proposal put forward by Conradh na Gaeilge, who must surely, as an Irish-language group, be enjoying this rare thrill of being listened to.

It is also worth noting that the majority of Sinn Féin’s promises wouldn’t require too much bending of fiscal space.

The manifesto is a little threadbare when it comes to details about reform of language legislation, and, for a party many of whose more prominent members have themselves availed of extreme forms of immersive language learning, For a Fair Recovery has surprisingly little to say about the reform of Gaeltacht education or Irish-language teaching in general.

That said, overall, For a Fair Recovery displays the same understanding of Irish-language issues as is shown by the likes of Galway Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh and Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín, probably two of the three best informed politicians on Irish-language issues in the Oireachtas, the other being Fianna Fáil's serial Gaeltacht Minister, Éamon Ó Cuív.

Still, even for those benumbed by years of broken promises and boiler plate banalities, Sinn Féin’s manifesto, in treating the Irish language much as it does any other major policy issue, has the charm of novelty about it.

That much is probably as sad an indictment as any of the ever increasing indifference of our political classes to the future of the language.

Of course, none of that is Sinn Féin’s fault.

At least not yet.

Níos fearr le Sinn Féin?

As all good Irish-language journalists learn to say on their first day on the job: Beidh le feiceáil. Seán Tadhg Ó Gairbhí is the Editor of the online news service, tuairisc.ie