A chara, – Niall Ginty (February 28th) is correct when he highlights the discrepancy between the Census figure he quotes and the true number of Irish speakers. A more accurate reflection of the situation would be the 77,000 people who say they speak Irish on a daily basis outside of the classroom. Therefore, if he wanted to have a conversation as Gaeilge with random people on the street he probably wouldn't get very far. Why would he? Irish is a minority language.
I do take issue with his mindset, which is widespread among monolingual speakers in this country: “I only speak English, therefore, everyone else should too”. – Is mise,
MÍCHEÁL Ó LEIDHIN,
Bóthar na Ceapaí,
Cnoc na Cathrach,
Gaillimh.
Sir, – Many of your negative-sounding correspondents on the question of the Irish language – in recent times and over the years – are living in a warp, or illusion, that manifests itself only in their own limited time and space. They are not visionaries – people who can see into the past and far into the future. They cannot see the richness and the vastness of the Irish language as it stretches back to pre-Christian times and moves boldly and imaginatively into the future, albeit almost friendlessly.
The awful limitations of their vision means they cannot see and admire the language in the past, present or future, cannot speak it, embrace it, read its literature or sing its songs. Why don’t they just shut about it, then? What exactly is their problem? Might it be some form of nagging, unacknowledged personal or collective guilt, or some form of self-loathing which is typical of many post-colonial societies?
So, we must look to visionaries for guidance on the subject, the likes of Emerson, who says: “Where are the Greeks? Where the Etrurians? Where the Romans? But the Celts are an old family of whose beginning there is no memory, and their end is likely to be still more remote in the future, for they have endurance and productiveness – a hidden and precarious genius.”
That vision should keep us going for a while, Celts and non-Celts alike. – Yours, etc
GABRIEL ROSENSTOCK,
Gleann na gCaorach,
Co Átha Cliath.