Madam, – Gabriel Rosenstock (February 10th) is confident that we can find creative solutions to the problem of encouraging young people to engage with the Irish language. Strange, then, that his default position is to force it upon them. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – It may be Valentine’s Day next Monday but the leader of Fine Gael will not be winning the hearts of those who support the Irish language.
While loved-up couples across Ireland will be exchanging chocolates and teddy bears, the Union of Students of Ireland will be holding a silent protest outside an empty Dáil against a political party which is deaf to their concerns.
As a member of that party, I hang my head in shame.
In his new book, Dr John Walsh critically examines the social and economic development of Irish in recent times. Recently he stated that making Irish an optional subject for the Leaving Certificate would have dire consequences for the language. As a renowned scholar of socio-linguistics surely his word carries more weight than a party-political policy that came to life without any substantial research worth mentioning.
As an active member of Young Fine Gael I too will be outside the Dáil next Monday. The question of the Irish language is bigger than party politics and so long as Fine Gael remains determined to make Irish an optional Leaving Certificate subject then I will have no choice but to remain ashamed of our policy on the Irish language. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The Fine Gael party has met opposition from all fronts regarding its hopes to make Irish optional at Leaving Cert level. Horrified politicians from across the board rallied under the cry of “Irish needs to be accessible to all children!” It seems there has been a failure to communicate. I heard Mr Kenny speak of a policy wherein students aged 17 and 18 are given the choice of learning a language which they might have interest in, and therefore speak (as opposed to forcing Irish on all students, thereby draining any possible enthusiasm from it). The opposition to the plan must have heard a long speech detailing how Mr Kenny will strike Irish from the curriculum at junior infants level and burn all Irish textbooks in the street, most likely punctuated with evil laughter and the sound of thunderclaps in the distance. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Is it not enough that we have lost everything financially and my children’s futures are mortgaged? I thought that the one thing we would retain is our national heritage. The prospect for the future is indeed bleak if we are to lose even that. Our language is a quintessential part of who we are. We may no longer be free to make our own financial decisions, but we do choose which language we speak. Fine Gael has lost the plot if it is planning to give away this fundamental part of our culture by abolishing compulsory Irish. Have we not lost enough? – Is mise,
Madam, – I was unsure of which party I should support in the general election but since Enda Kenny clarified its position on the teaching of the Irish language, I’m going to vote Fine Gael. In advocating the abolition of compulsory Irish after Junior Cert, Fine Gael is taking the first steps in acknowledging the reality of the language’s position in this country.
Irish, we’re told by correspondents such as Mr Rosenstock, is “our cultural legacy” and it apparently takes thousands of hours of compulsory teaching of it to all in primary and secondary school pupils – as well as millions of euro in subsidies, grants and printing costs – to ensure Enda Kenny knows from where his name derives.
Forcing everyone to learn a language for the purposes of cultural enlightenment is a rather blunt tactic that breeds indifference.
Encouraging pupils to voluntarily pick it up, speaking it as a hobby instead of an obligation, is a far more honest policy than insisting every government publication and road sign is as Gaeilge.
The political party that starts down the road of acknowledging the Irish language’s real, not idealised or imagined, place in Irish society has my vote – and Fine Gael is the closest thing to that party. – Yours, etc,