Madam, - Kevin Myers errs (An Irishman's Diary September 1st). Or rather, he distorts and exaggerates, which is the prerogative of the satirist.
The Official Languages Act, 2003 does not introduce compulsory Irish. Rather, it ends compulsory English for native speakers of Irish. It requires that a public body reply to correspondence in English or Irish in the language which it is written. It provides for the agreement between public bodies and the Minister of prudent schemes, approved by the Minister for Finance, for providing services to the public in English only, Irish only, or in both languages.
As for road-signs: Irish tourists rarely drown in France. Why should French tourists be at greater risk in the Gaeltacht, where the road-signs have been in Irish for 30 years, than in the rest of the country?
A Gaelscoil is founded by a committee of enthusiastic teachers and parents who are prepared to make sacrifices for the education of their children. Presumably this qualifies those parents for admission to the middle classes.
A Gaelscoil provides pupils who do not come from Irish-speaking or bilingual homes with an education in another language from fluent, usually native, speakers of that language.
Contemporary literature, print and broadcast media in that language are easily available to the pupils. And there are communities whose daily language is Irish only a few hours from Dublin.
Bilingualism or multilingualism is the norm in most of the world, and greatly facilitates other areas of learning. Why shouldn't Irish children profit from a language available on their doorstep?
Kevin Myers has been obsessed by Irish for a long time now. Perhaps if he were to learn it, he would achieve the same brilliance in satire as his predecessor, Brian Ó Nuallain. English was his second language, after Irish. - Yours, etc.,
AONGHUS Ó HALMHAIN, Pairc na Seilbhe, Baile an Chinnéidigh, Co Chill Mhantáin.