A chara, – We have a Government that sees fit to appoint two Ministers dealing with Irish-language affairs, neither of whom can speak or conduct their affairs in Irish when dealing with the Irish-speaking population who still live on this island.
One wonders does the same attitude prevail towards the French language when appointing an Irish ambassador to France?
What is clear now is that we have a Government that seems obsessed with imposing taxes, counting pennies and cutting services wherever possible. At the same time there seems to be an almost wilful blindness when it comes to placing value upon one of the most important, distinctive and intrinsically unique features about us as a people, the Irish language. – Is mise,
ROB Mac GIOLLARNÁTH,
Sandyford View,
Dublin 18.
Sir, – The logic of all the ruaille buaille and political posturing about the appointment of Ministers for the Gaeltacht surely means that we should have a vet in charge of the Department of Agriculture, a doctor in charge of the Department of Health, a general in charge of the Department of Defence, a teacher in charge of the Department of Education, and so on.
Is what we need another general election on the lines of the vocational panels for the Seanad elections?
What a prospect! – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN O’DONNELL,
Glenageary,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – It strikes me as ironic that native speakers and Irish-language enthusiasts should criticise Joe McHugh’s appointment as Minister of State for the Gaeltacht.
After all, he is presumably a product of the Irish educational system which has failed so dismally to teach the language over the past 90-odd years. Who better to take responsibility for the promotion of the language than someone who has attended Irish schools for 12 years or more and, like myself, remains unable to hold even a basic conversation in the Irish language?
The alternative is to appoint someone from a minority group within the country – ie someone who has come from a Gaeilgeoir background, someone who was brought up in a Gaeltacht area or one of the tiny minority of people who, despite the awfulness of the educational system in relation to the teaching of Irish, has acquired fluency in the language.
I would venture to suggest that it is unlikely that someone from any of these groups has any awareness of the difficulty so many of us faced in coping with the Irish language as a school subject.
I have no great enthusiasm for the language but neither am I opposed to it being taught. I do insist, however, that a system which allows so much time to be spent on a subject without producing a positive result needs to be examined critically. It may be that Mr McHugh is the man for the job. – Yours, etc,
LEO ROCHE,
Grosvenor Place,
Rathmines,
Dublin 6.