A Chara, - In 1972 the Fianna Fáil government made a huge mistake in failing to apply for official working status for the Irish language when we entered the EU. That status was available at the time. Nobody was opposing it. The Government just did not request it.
We now have the best opportunity in over 30 years to right that disgraceful wrong. But time is running out and the Government is remaining silent on the issue. The ideal opportunity to achieve recognition for Irish would be at the EU summit in Brussels next week. But the Irish Government must take the initiative and make the application.
Ireland will have the European presidency, a position of much influence, until the end of this month. We recently oversaw and celebrated the accession of 10 new member-states to the EU and we rightly accepted their languages as official working languages. But why then denigrate the Irish language by leaving it with an inferior status? The Irish language is the only official language of a member-state that is not recognised as an official and working language of the EU.
Irish is the oldest living language in Western Europe. It has a rich cultural, historic, literary, musical and linguistic significance, which has been recognised by European and world scholars for hundreds of years. It is an intrinsic part of the cultural and linguistic mosaic of Europe.
But in this "enlightened" age, has our own Government lost sight of the importance of Irish as the national language of Ireland for 2,000 years? Is it denying the importance of the Irish language in a truly multi-cultural Europe and, most of all, in the hearts and minds of the Irish people? The Irish language belongs to all of the Irish people. And, the status of Irish affects us all.
Will the Government recognise the right of the Irish people to have our own language recognised in Europe on a par with the other 20 official working languages of the EU? Or will it leave us recognised, linguistically and culturally, as some form of second-class citizens?
Time is running out. Does this Fianna Fáil/PD Government want to be remembered in Irish and European history for turning its back on the Irish language or for ensuring that Irish would take its rightful place as an official working language in the European Parliament and institutions? It has a choice.
Tabhair dúinn ár gcearta. Faigh dúinn an stádas. Anois, sula mbíonn sé ródheireanach. - Is mise,
ÍTE NÍ CHIONNAITH, Iar-Uachtarán Chonradh na Gaeilge, Bóthar an Dobhair, Baile Átha Cliath 8.