A chara, - I refer to Kevin Myers's Irishman's Diary of September 1st. I have to say that I usually enjoy Kevin Myers's musings even when I am the butt of his satires.
However, I believe it is important that you as Editor ensure, in line with your claim to be the paper of record, that basic matters of fact be established correctly before publication.
Any perusal of the Official Languages Act 2003 would establish quite clearly that I have neither proposed nor made it illegal to have signs in English in Gaeltacht areas.
For the record, the regulations in relation to place-names on road-signs in the Gaeltacht were made by Bobby Molloy when Minister of the Environment in 1970.
Kevin Myers is also ill informed in relation to the status of Achill as a Gaeltacht. The situation at present is that all of the Corrán peninsula and also the eastern half of Achill Island are in the Gaeltacht. The designation of a Gaeltacht is done by Government order under the 1956 Act and no amending order has been made in this regard since 1956.
What I did say in Achill was that I felt it was ridiculous that half of the Island is in the Gaeltacht and the other half is not.
I also said that in future it would seem sensible that either all the Island should be in the Gaeltacht or none of it and that it was fundamentally a choice for the people to make, based on linguistic criteria. - Is mise,
ÉAMON Ó CUÍV, TD, Minister for Community, Rural & Gaeltacht Affairs, Dublin 4.