DAMIEN O CEALLACHAIN,
A chara, - In response to Godfrey Fitzsimons's Irishman's Diary of February 19th, I am a maintenance painter and decorator employed by the City of Dublin VEC for the past 20 years and I am the one responsible for the bilingual signs while painting the railings of head office, i.e. Town Hall, Ballsbridge.
Twenty-two years ago, while on holiday in Mykonos, Greece, I saw a sign in an Irish bar which read: "Tír gan teanga - Tír gan anam". A country without a language is a country without a soul. This got me thinking. It raised a question. On returning home I enrolled in night classes and continued until I was happy with my understanding of the language.
I had been through the educational system, (the murder machine, as Pádraig Pearse called it) and had the language leathered into me by the Christian Brothers. I also had English, Maths, etc., leathered into me, but people tend to forget this.
I do not use "official issue" signs but started using my own bilingual signs and found it aroused curiosity and amusement and a general deá-thoill, or good will, towards the language. The fact that Godfrey remembers the signs after more than eight years is surely affirmation of this.
I am not on a crusade. I just know that my own life has become all the richer for it, whether it be understanding place-names (another current debate) or singing along to all of the anthem, while watching our soccer tem, instead of the last line only.
The Irish language does not belong to an élite of intellectuals any more. It has been reclaimed by the working class, particularly in Dublin areas like Clondalkin, Tallaght and Ballymun. So, along to your local night class. They don't use the leather strap any more but don't let that deter you. Bain triail as. - Is mise,
DAMIEN Ó CEALLACHÁIN,
Ascail Ghort An Choirce,
Cluain Dolcáin,
Baile Átha Cliath 22.